SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Graham Ike’s previous outings against Santa Clara probably gave the Broncos a good idea of what to expect when 12th-ranked Gonzaga visited on Saturday.
The 17 points Ike scored in the first half were probably a solid indicator of where the Zags would be putting most of their chips when the second period started at the Leavey Center.
Santa Clara had a strong inkling of where the ball would go, but it didn’t mean the Broncos were any better equipped to handle Ike, who’s played at an All-American level in recent weeks and once again managed to lift Gonzaga in the most important game of the regular season to this point.
Ike posted a 21-point, 15-rebound double-double and Gonzaga overcame shaky stretches in the first and second half to pull out a gutty 94-86 win at the Leavey Center.
Ike and everyone else involved seemed to understand the ramifications of Saturday’s major showdown between the top two teams in the West Coast Conference.
A second victory over Santa Clara pushed the Zags (25-2, 13-1 WCC) ahead of the Broncos in the league standings with four regular-season games remaining. Gonzaga, which beat Santa Clara 89-77 in the first meeting at McCarthey Athletic Center, will also have the tiebreaker on the Broncos should both finish the regular season with identical records.
The victory could also go a long way on Selection Sunday. The Zags entered Saturday’s game ranked No. 6 in the NCAA’s NET ratings, which are used to seed the NCAA tournament field. Winning at Santa Clara (22-6, 13-2 WCC), which is currently projected to make its first trip to the Big Dance since 1996, bumped Gonzaga’s record in “Quad 1” games to 6-1.
Ike’s production carried the Zags through the first half, but Tyon Grant-Foster supplied a spark in the second with the senior forward in foul trouble. Grant-Foster finished with 20 points, six rebounds, three assists, two steals and one block. The Grand Canyon transfer scored 13 of his 20 points in the second half.
Gonzaga trailed early in the first half and found itself in a five-point hole midway through the second after Santa Clara’s Sash Gavalyugov buried a three-pointer.
Ike and friends fueled the ensuing Gonzaga flurry, which opened with a layup from the senior forward to trim the deficit to three points. Freshman Davis Fogle followed with a crafty up-and-under layup to make it a one-point game and stole the ensuing inbound pass, laying the ball in to give the Zags a lead. A hasty 9-0 run culminated with a layup from Emmanuel Innocenti to make it 63-60.
Gonzaga didn’t trail the rest of the game, but the visitors still needed timely shot making down the stretch. Elijah Mahi’s layup trimmed the Santa Clara deficit to four points with just under seven minutes remaining, but Adam Miller calmly drilled a three-pointer at the other end to restore a seven-point lead.
Miller and Grant-Foster both made late free throws to help the Zags maintain their cushion and the senior transfers connected on an alley-oop with 53 seconds remaining to all but slam the door on a Santa Clara comeback.
Miller had 14 of his 21 points in the second half, making 7 of 8 shots from the field. Emmanuel Innocenti finished with another 16 points for the Zags, adding six rebounds and two assists.
Ike missed his first his first two shot attempts during a sluggish start to the first half for Gonzaga. The visitors trailed by as many as eight points at the 11-minute, 11-second mark, but a quick four-point scoring spurt from Tyon Grant-Foster made it a two-possession game and eventually took the lead on Ike’s layup with under seven minutes to play.
The Zags scored nine of the final 11 points to close the first half and took a five-point lead into the break after Mario Saint-Supery’s putback at the halftime buzzer.
Gonzaga made just 3 of 18 shots from the three-point line, but had an overwhelming 66-42 advantage in points in the paint. The Zags also outrebounded the Broncos 41-32 and were 19 of 29 from the free-throw line.
Santa Clara’s Christian Hammond finished with a team-high 16 points on 7 of 14 shooting. Mahi had 15 on 6 of 15 shooting and standout freshman forward Allen Graves had 12 on 2 of 7 shooting before fouling out.
Gonzaga resumes WCC play Wednesday when it travels to play San Francisco (14-13, 6-8) at the Chase Center (7:30 p.m., ESPN2). Playing without Ike, the Zags clipped the Dons 68-66 on Jan. 24 in Spokane.