SEATTLE — Any mention of what might be on the horizon for No. 8 Gonzaga was put off until after its yearly visit to KeyArena.
It was brought up in the locker room only briefly, but it was acknowledged that the Bulldogs could be back in the same building a few months down the road when the NCAA tournament returns to Seattle.
“I hope. That would be nice. We have so many Zag fans out there,” Gonzaga’s Gary Bell Jr. said.
Kevin Pangos scored 11 of his 16 points in the second half, and No. 8 Gonzaga struggled to shake pesky Cal Poly before pulling away for a 63-50 win Saturday night.
Gonzaga (11-1) was flat throughout and at times uncommonly sloppy playing its annual game before its large Seattle-area fan base. Cal Poly (5-5) hung around late into the second half before the Bulldogs finally put away the Mustangs in the final 6 minutes.
Pangos hit three 3-pointers in the second half, and 7-foot-1 Przemek Karnowski finished with 16 points, including 11 in the first half.
“I think that’s where we struggled at times, we got caught in bad spots and (were) maybe too tentative, maybe too aggressive at bad times,” Pangos said. “So we’ve got to learn from that but overall we did what we had to do.”
David Nwaba scored a season-high 21 points, but was the only Cal Poly player to reach double figures.
Gonzaga wanted to make a better impression on the fans it hopes to see again in March. The Bulldogs committed 16 turnovers, second-most this season. They hit only one 3-pointer in the first half while scoring 28 points. And they were never able to get a comfortable lead against the Mustangs.
Pangos hit a pair of 3-pointers in the opening minutes of the second half to push Gonzaga’s lead to 38-26. Instead of wilting, the Mustangs charged back, scoring the next eight points and forcing Gonzaga coach Mark Few to call timeout with 14:21 left.
Pangos answered with his fourth 3-pointer, but the Mustangs continued to linger. Karnowski’s two free throws and a 3-pointer from Kyle Dranginis put the Bulldogs up 10 with 11 minutes remaining. Kyle Toth’s 3-pointer with 7:31 left pulled the Mustangs back within seven.
Cal Poly missed three chances to cut the lead to five, while free throws from Kyle Wiltjer and a layup by Bell pushed Gonzaga’s advantage to nine. Wiltjer added two more free throws and the lead was back to 11.
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