Braden Huff recorded 19 points and nine rebounds to help No. 11 Gonzaga post an 86-71 victory over Yale in a clash of teams called Bulldogs on Friday night at Spokane, Wash.
Ryan Nembhard added 16 points and seven assists in Gonzaga’s opening game of the season. Nolan Hickman scored 15 points, Anton Watson had 11 points and 12 rebounds and Graham Ike had 11 points and three steals.
Gonzaga held a 42-28 rebounding edge in its first game since the end of the career of program icon Drew Timme.
John Poulakidas scored 18 points to lead Yale (1-1). August Mahoney added 12 points, Bez Mbeng had 10 points and three steals and Nick Townsend scored 10 points.
Gonzaga shot 50 percent from the field, including 7 of 19 (36.8 percent) from 3-point range. Huff made 7 of 10 from the field, including 2 of 3 3-point attempts.
Yale made 40.7 percent of its shots and was 9 of 24 (37.5 percent) from behind the arc.
Gonzaga led by five at halftime before getting one basket from Huff and two from Anton Watson to open the second half and take a 53-42 edge.
Poulakidas drained a 3-pointer to get Yale within 60-51 with 12:10 left, but the Zags scored the next eight points. Huff scored five points and Dusty Stromer sank a trey during the run that made it 68-51 with 10:32 left.
Gonzaga pushed the lead over 20 when Nembhard scored on a layup to make it 80-59 with 5:19 remaining.
Yale led by as many as 10 points in the first half before the Zags recovered to lead 47-42 at the break.
Huff and Nembhard had 10 first-half points apiece for Gonzaga, while Poulakidas had 10 in the half for Yale.
A three-point play by Matt Knowling gave Yale a 16-6 lead with 16:26 left in the first half.
Gonzaga scored the next 10, with Stromer knocking down a 3-pointer to knot the score with 12:59 left.
Ike hit a jumper to give the Zags a 22-21 edge with 10:19 in the half.
Gonzaga trailed by three later in the half before Ben Gregg scored six points during a 9-0 burst. Gregg capped the run with a jumper to give the Zags a 39-33 lead with 2:26 left in the half.
–Field Level Media