SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Drew Timme scored a season-high 37 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, and No. 15 Gonzaga beat Montana 85-75 on Tuesday night for its 72nd straight home victory.
Gonzaga’s home win streak is tied with UNLV (1974-78) for the ninth-longest in NCAA history. It’s the longest streak since the expansion of the NCAA Tournament in 1985 and the longest since Lamar’s 80-game run from 1978-84.
Texas Tech has the second-longest active home win streak in the nation at 27 games.
Timme started 4 for 9 from the free throw line but went 4 for 4 down the stretch to seal the game after a late Montana rally. The Grizzlies cut a 17-point, second-half deficit to five with 3:06 to play on Josh Bannen's jumper but couldn’t get any closer.
Gonzaga (10-3) made up for a poor first half from 3-point range by making 40% of its 3-point attempts in the second half to hold off the Grizzlies (6-6).
Ben Gregg and Malachi Smith combined for 20 of Gonzaga’s 22 bench points in the second half to ignite Gonzaga’s offense.
The Zags held a 33-27 advantage in rebounding and turned 12 Montana turnovers into 17 points in the first matchup since a near upset in 2015.
Bannan scored 19 points and Brandon Whitney added 15. Dischon Thomas scored 15 points – all in the second half — to keep the Grizzlies within striking distance before fouling out.
Montana made four of its first five 3-pointers to jump on Gonzaga early but finished the last 6:20 of the first half without a field goal. Gonzaga closed on a 13-3 run to erase an early eight-point Grizzlies lead.
BIG PICTURE:
Gonzaga: The win was the 100th of Timme’s career and his overall record sits at 100-10. The Zags begin conference play against Pepperdine on Dec. 31 after wrapping up a grueling non-conference schedule that included five opponents ranked in the AP Top 25.
Montana: The Grizzlies had their three-game winning streak and their road record fell to 1-5 on the season. Montana was picked third in the preseason Big Sky coaches’ poll and welcomes Eastern Washington to open conference play on Dec. 29.
UP NEXT:
Montana: Home against Eastern Washington
Gonzaga: Hosts Eastern Oregon.
