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A day after Kyle Collinsworth posted his sixth triple-double of the season, he scored 28 points with eight rebounds and five assists -- but it simply wasn't enough to keep up with Gonzaga's firepower. The Bulldogs raced to a 91-75 win to claim their 11th WCC tournament title since 2000.
Kyle Wiltjer led Gonzaga with 18 points, while WCC player of the year Kevin Pangos added 16 and drilled a dagger three-pointer with 2:40 left to put the Zags up 84-71.
BYU cut it to three points with about 14 minutes left, but Gonzaga fed Przemek Karnowski with a steady diet in the paint and BYU had no answer, getting Kaufusi and Worthington in foul trouble. Karnowski finished with 12 points on the night.
A few plays after Collinsworth drove on transition and seemed to be fouled at the rim, Tyler Haws, who finished with 15 points, was blocked on a three attempt by Kyle Dranginis. The ball went off Dranginis but was awarded to Gonzaga, resulting in a Dave Rose technical foul after throwing his jacket and getting after official Tommy Nunez.
Pangos made both technical free throws to give Gonzaga a 69-59 lead with 11:33 left, and that was about as close as BYU would get.
The worst news for BYU was with Skyler Halford, who crumpled to the floor with 29 seconds with a leg injury of some kind after diving for a loose ball. He was carried straight to the locker room with no weight on his left leg.
For the game, Gonzaga shot 37 free throws to BYU's 20, committing only 18 fouls to BYU's 27.
In the first half, Haws exited with two fouls early and Gonzaga capitalized. Halford, who helped hold BYU's offense together in the first half with timely shooting, knocked down a three to give BYU a 10-9 lead. But Gonzaga went on a 10-0 run, a hole BYU tried to fight out of the entire half.
Dave Rose put Haws back in the game with 2 fouls and 12 minutes still left in the half to stem the tide. The closest BYU would pull in the half was 33-30 after a Collinsworth and-1 and another KC free throw. The Cougars cut the score to 46-42 with 2:35 left in the frame but squandered several looks at the rim to cut the lead, going to the locker room down 48-42.
Sunday's NCAA Tournament selection show airs on CBS at 4 p.m. MT, where BYU will learn its postseason fate. BYU should be in, but there will be lots of bubble play left the rest of this week. The worst case scenario is BYU is a first-four-out team, which would result in a one-seed in the NIT.
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Collinsworth scored 17 in the first half, while Gonzaga got 12 each from Wiltjer and Bell. Gonzaga shot 48.5% in the first half while BYU shot only 38.2%.