SPOKANE, Wash. — The Washington men’s basketball team believed they were closing the gap on No. 18 Gonzaga considering the scoring margin in their past two matchups — both Bulldog wins — was an average of 4 1/2 points and the games were decided in the final minutes.
Drew Timme scored a game-high 22 points and made sure the Zags retained their dominance in the in-state rivalry with a resounding 77-60 nonconference victory in front of a sold-out crowd of 6,000 at McCarthey Athletic Center.
They Bulldogs extended several streaks on Friday night. They beat the Huskies for the seventh straight time and have won 14 of the past 15 games in the in-state rivalry since 1998.
Gonzaga also ran its string of home victories to 70, which is one shy of the modern-day record of 71 held by Arizona.
Unlike their last visit here in 2018, which resulted in an 81-79 loss, the Huskies couldn’t keep it close and trailed for more than 30 minutes.
Still, the first 10 minutes belonged to Washington, which led 12-7 while holding Gonzaga to 1-for-10 shooting from the field, including 1 of 6 on 3-pointers.
Slowly and surely, the Bulldogs began to exert their will and hammer the Huskies inside with the lethal combination of Timme and forward Anton Watson.
The beginning of the end for UW occurred when backup forward Jackson Grant collected his second foul and left the game with the Huskies trailing 14-12 with 8:27 in the first half.
Washington was severely shorthand on the front line considering center Braxton Meah was already on the bench with two fouls, which forced Keion Brooks Jr. to play the post in a four-guard lineup.
Soon after, Brooks exited after collecting his third foul and Gonzaga outscored Washington 22-14 for the remainder of the first half, including a 10-2 run to take a 36-26 lead into halftime.
Meah flushed an alley-oop dunk that trimmed Huskies’ deficit to 42-35 with 15:13 when Gonzaga used a 15-4 run regain control of the game and go up 57-39 at the 9:56 mark.
Washington never got closer than 13 points the rest of the way.
Brooks had a team-high 14 points on 6-for-12 shooting and five rebounds while PJ Fuller II had 13 points and six rebounds Cole Bajema added 12 points and six rebounds.
Julian Strawther finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds for Gonzaga, which improved to 7-3.
Washington (7-3, 1-1 Pac-12) hosts Cal Poly on Tuesday and Idaho State on Dec. 17 before wrapping up its nonconference schedule against No. 11 Auburn on Dec. 21.
