Northwestern St. Demons vs Gonzaga Bulldogs Match Player Stats On Dec 22, 2020

Northwestern State gave top-ranked Gonzaga a bit of a scare Tuesday night, outscoring the Bulldogs in the second half of a 95-78 nonconference loss in Spokane, Wash.

The game was a rematch of a 95-57 Gonzaga victory 24 hours earlier in a game that bore no resemblance to the second get-together.

On Tuesday, Drew Timme had a game-high 25 points, Jalen Suggs added 19 and Corey Kispert 18 as the Bulldogs (6-0) were forced by a scrappy Demons team to give their starters more playing time than expected in order to stay unbeaten.

Jairus Roberson had 15 points while Trenton Massner and Jovan Zelenbaba collected 14 apiece for Northwestern State (1-9), which lost its fourth straight.

Roberson and Zelenbaba hit four 3-pointers apiece as the Demons shocked the top-rated team with 12-for-24 shooting from beyond the arc.

One night after the visitors were competitive for the better part of a half, Gonzaga held the Demons scoreless for almost five minutes and to just two points in the first 10 minutes en route to a 24-2 lead.

The Zags led 43-17 heading into the break, then retained a 57-32 advantage when Timme dropped in a layup with 15:01 to play.

But the Demons, who had been outscored 52-27 in the second half on Monday, chipped away at their 25-point deficit, getting inside 20 on a Massner layup with 12:33 to play and within 68-55 on a Brian White layup with 9:33 to go.

A 3-pointer by Massner made it an 11-point game with 7:07 left before Gonzaga put the game away by scoring the next seven points, five by Timme, to re-establish control at 82-64.

The visitors, who outscored the Bulldogs 61-52 over the final 20 minutes, got no closer than 16 the rest of the way.

Anton Watson also scored 10 points for Gonzaga, which outshot the visitors 58.2 percent to 47 percent from the field.

Jamaure Gregg had 11 points and shared game-high rebound honors with Timme with nine for the Demons. Northwestern State's Larry Owens chipped in with 10 points.

--Field Level Media