Zags bury turnover-plagued Eagles
Gonzaga University, showing no lingering effects of the lopsided loss it suffered against Duke nine days earlier, dismantled Eastern Washington 94-52 Monday night in front of a subdued sellout crowd at the McCarthy Athletic Center.
The Bulldogs (9-3), who took control early and led by upwards of 40 points throughout most of the second half, were paced offensively by freshman forward Elias Harris, who scored a game-high 22 points and chased down seven rebounds.
Steven Gray and Matt Bouldin each added 11 points for the Zags, who also got 10 points, each, from Mangisto Arop and Kelly Olynyk.
Eastern (4-10), which was plagued by some early ball-handling issues, also shot it horribly once again, making only 17 of its 59 field goal tries and just four of 24 attempts from 3-point range.
The loss was the fifth straight for Eastern, which has been outscored by an average of 29 points in its last four games. The Eagles were paced offensively by freshman guard Glen Dean, who finished with 13 points, and senior forward Mark Dunn, who added 11.
Eastern took the holiday-break crowd -- which wasn't making much noise to begin with students on brak -- of of the game early by turning the ball over 10 times in the first ten minutes and letting the Zags loose on an early 13-0 run that produced a 21-8 lead.
At one point, the Eagles kicked the ball away on five straight first-half possessions without getting off a shot. Gonzaga, meanwhile, took advantage of nearly every miscue and closed the opening period with a 53-25 lead that included 24 points off turnovers.
The Zags finished the half shooting 59.4 percent (19-32) from the field and made seven of their 12 tries from 3-point range. Eastern managed to knock down only 30.4 percent (7-23) of its first-half shots and was a palty 3-of-13 from 3-point range.
Both teams will be back in action on Thursday when EWU returns to Big Sky Conference play in a Reese Court matchup against Sacramento State that tips off at 3:05 p.m., and Gonzaga entertains Oklahoma at 7 p.m. in the Arena.