It took the better part of 30 minutes, but the Gonzaga Bulldogs finally put together a long, decisive run and pulled away from Akron, 77-64, at the Rose Garden on Thursday in the first round of the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

Trailing 52-51, Gonzaga scored 13 straight points and went on a 19-1 run to take command at 70-53 with 4:05 remaining. Akron went nearly 13 minutes without a field goal before Darryl Roberts connected on a 3-pointer with 2:08 remaining.

The fourth-seeded Bulldogs (27-5) were led by Josh Heytvelt's 22 points. MIcah Downs had 15 points and Matt Bouldin added 12 points and five assists. Jeremy Pargo scored nine points and chipped in five assists. Roberts paced the Zips with 19 points.

Check back for a game story and notes later.