With Ben Gregg and Ryan Nembhard leading the way, the Gonzaga Bulldogs had a strong finish to the regular season by beating San Francisco 95-75 on Saturday night at the Chase Center to clinch the No. 2 seed in the West Coast Conference tournament.
The Zags (23-8, 14-4) don’t play again until March 10 in the semifinals of the tournament at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The Dons (23-8, 13-5) lost for the 32nd straight time to the Zags and will be the No. 3 seed. The teams could meet again in the tourney if the Dons win their quarterfinal game.
Gregg scored 23 points on 8 of 14 shooting to lead Gonzaga, which got its second Quad 1 win in five nights. Nolan Hickman scored 17, Graham Ike 15 and Khalif Battle 14.
Nembhard had 15 assists for the second straight game, once again falling one short of tying Blake Stepp’s school single-game record of 16.
Here are three takeaways from Gonzaga’s win at the Chase Center.
No. 2 seed
The Zags will be in the bracket opposite top-seeded Saint Mary’s, meaning the archrivals need only to win their semifinal games to meet for the third time this season, with the WCC’s automatic NCAA berth at stake. Saint Mary’s swept the season series and claimed the regular-season title for the third straight year. Gonzaga is looking to reach the NCAA Tournament for the 26th straight time.
Nembhard’s assists
The senior point guard was subbed out with just more than two minutes left, needing one assist to tie Stepp’s school record set in 2002. Still, that’s two straight 15-assist games in the Bay Area and Nembhard extended his WCC single-season record to 310. Earlier this season Nembhard became the 51st player in NCAA Division 1 history to reach 800 career assists and is now at 848.
Ben’s big game
Gregg’s 23 points in 29 minutes left the senior forward one shy of his career high. He’s scored 24 points twice in his career, most recently at Portland on Jan. 25.
Ismaila Diagne, a 7-foot freshman center from Senegal, went scoreless with three rebounds in five minutes. He had a breakout game at Santa Clara on Tuesday night, with nine points, four rebounds, a block and a steal in 19 minutes.
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