Graham Ike and Khalif Battle scored 15 points each to lead five players in double figures for No. 3 Gonzaga in its 84-41 win against Long Beach State on Wednesday night in Spokane, Wash. Braden Huff scored 12 points off the bench, Ryan Nembhard had 10 points and seven assists and Nolan Hickman also scored 10 points for Gonzaga (5-0), which never trailed.
Devin Askew scored 12 points and Derrick Michael Xzavierro added nine points and 11 rebounds for Long Beach (1-4). The Bulldogs took a 40-24 lead into halftime after leading by as many as 24 points in the first half. Nembhard hit a spot-up 3 to extend the lead to 51-27 with 16:16 left in the game.
Long Beach tried to make another run, but Dusty Stromer sank another 3 from in front of the Gonzaga bench to stretch the lead back to 57-33 with 12:29 remaining. Battle followed with two free throws to give Gonzaga its biggest lead of the game at 59-33, and the 14-0 run continued as the Bulldogs stretched the advantage to 68-33. Battle missed a dunk off a lob, but Michael Ajayi dunked the follow-up to give the Bulldogs a 9-2 lead with 15:19 left in the first half.
Stromer sank a 3-pointer to stretch the lead to 12-4 and spark a 14-0 run that increased the advantage to 23-4 with 10:25 remaining in the half. TJ Wainwright ended the run with a reverse layup for Long Beach, but Gonzaga continued to convert on the other end and took its biggest lead of the first half, 33-9, on a 3-pointer by Battle with 7:40 remaining. Long Beach followe.
