No. 12 Gonzaga defeats Santa Clara 88-70 behind Anton Watson's 18 points

The Zags (18-4, 8-1 WCC) picked up their third straight win on Thursday night

SPOKANE - Anton Watson scored 18 points to lead the Gonzaga Bulldogs to an 88-70 win over the Santa Clara Broncos on Thursday.

Watson shot a perfect 8-for-8 from the field, grabbed five rebounds and had four assists for the Zags (19-4, 8-1 WCC), who have won 26 straight contests against the Broncos, including an 81-76 victory on Jan. 7. It’s Gonzaga’s third straight win since last week’s letdown at home against LMU.

Rasir Bolton finished with 16 points on 6-for-11 shooting, including 3-for-5 from deep. Gonzaga shot 59.3% from the field.

For Santa Clara, Carlos Stewart’s 22 points weren’t enough in the program’s third straight defeat. The Broncos (16-8, 4-5 WCC) shot 40% from the floor, their worst mark in six games.

Drew Timme recorded his seventh double-double of the season with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

Timme scored his 2,000th career point on a two-hand dunk early in the second half, as he became the third player in program history to cross the threshold. The two-time All-American sits 15 points away from second place on Gonzaga’s all-time scoring list.

Timme is closing in on Frank Burgess’ 2,196-point mark with eight games remaining in the regular season.

Malachi Smith surpassed 1,500 points for his career on a stepback 3-pointer midway through the second half. Smith finished with eight points and two triples.

Brandin Podziemski tallied 14 points on 4-for-14 shooting.

Podziemski had a career-high 38 points in a 95-89 loss to Pacific last time out. The 6-foot-5 sophomore entered Thursday’s game second in the WCC in rebounds per game and third in points per game.

Julian Strawther contributed 12 points and five rebounds.

Strawther scored a career-high 40 points on eight triples in Gonzaga’s win over Portland on Saturday, which earned him WCC Player of the Week honors.

Ben Gregg knocked down a 3-pointer to cap off an 11-1 scoring run for the Zags, giving them a 28-14 lead midway through the first half.

Anton Watson’s fastbreak dunk off a turnover from Stewart made it 43-24 in favor of Gonzaga at halftime. Stewart led all scorers with 13, while Watson poured in a team-high 11 points on 5-for-5 shooting.

The Zags led 62-40 after Bolton’s third 3-pointer.

Watson flushed home a dunk over Podziemski to give Gonzaga a 77-59 with five minutes remaining. The Zags outscored the Broncos 44-20 in the paint.

Gonzaga takes on No. 18 Saint Mary’s in a top-25 clash on Saturday from Moraga, California. Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m.