Gonzaga Bulldogs vs Santa Clara Broncos Match Player Stats On Jan 30, 2020

Filip Petrusev recorded a career-best 31 points on 14-of-18 shooting and also had nine rebounds and three steals to lead second-ranked Gonzaga to an 87-72 victory over host Santa Clara in West Coast Conference play on Thursday night.

Ryan Woolridge contributed 13 points, six assists and five rebounds as the Bulldogs (22-1, 8-0 WCC) won their 14th consecutive contest. Admon Gilder and Drew Timme added 11 points apiece for Gonzaga, which extended its record streak of WCC regular-season victories to 35.

DJ Mitchell scored 17 points for Santa Clara (17-6, 4-4), which dropped to 15-2 at home. Josip Vrankic added 15 points, 12 rebounds and five assists, while Jalen Williams had 12 points and a career-high five steals for the Broncos, who have lost 21 straight meetings with the Zags.

However, this margin was much closer than the 104-54 road loss at Gonzaga on Jan. 16.

This victory could be painful for the Bulldogs, however, as Killian Tillie departed with 9:07 left in the first half due to a sprained left ankle. Coach Mark Few said in a postgame interview on CBS Sports Network that Tillie will be further examined on Friday.

Tillie had three points in nine minutes before exiting.

The Bulldogs shot 49.3 percent from the field and were just 3 of 16 from 3-point range.

Santa Clara connected on 42.6 percent of its shots, including 8 of 25 from behind the arc.

Gonzaga led by just four points at the half but later rattled off eight straight points, with Woolridge driving for the final two baskets of the run to make it 67-52 with 9:19 remaining in the game.

Santa Clara responded with a 14-6 spurt and moved within 73-66 on Vrankic's layup with 5:14 left.

Petrusev answered with two baskets to push the lead back to 11 with 3:07 left.

He went over 30 for the first time in his career when he caught a lob from Woolridge and slammed it home with 2:18 remaining as the Bulldogs closed it out.

Petrusev scored 11 points as Gonzaga led 40-36 at halftime.

The four-point margin was much closer than two weeks ago in Spokane, Wash., when the Bulldogs led 58-22 at the break.

The Broncos kept it close as Williams and Trey Wertz buried 3-pointers to cut their deficit to 34-33 with 2:01 remaining, but they were never able to take a lead in the contest.

--Field Level Media