Gonzaga beats North Dakota State to advance to round of 32
Kyle Wiltjer scored a game-high 23 points and grabbed eight rebounds as the second-seeded Bulldogs downed the Bison 86-76 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Seattle.
Kevin Pangos finished with 18 points and five assists, Gary Bell Jr. chipped in 13 points and Przemek Karnowski added 11 points and six rebounds for Gonzaga (33-2), which will play No. 7 seed Iowa on Sunday for a berth in the Sweet Sixteen. The Bulldogs shot 51.7 percent and finished with a 35-25 rebounding edge while picking up a school-record 33rd win for the season.
Dexter Werner came off the bench to score a career-high 22 points while Lawrence Alexander added 19 points for North Dakota State (23-10). Paul Miller contributed 13 points and Kory Brown added 10 points, six rebounds and two steals for the 15th-seeded Bison, who shot 53.7 percent and connected on 10-of-21 3-pointers.
North Dakota State, which upset No. 5 seeded Oklahoma in overtime in the second round of last year’s NCAA Tournament in Gonzaga’s hometown of Spokane, connected on 3-pointers on each of its first three possessions to open up a 9-4 lead. But the Bulldogs didn’t flinch and took control with a 20-4 spurt capped by a jump hook by Karnowski to go ahead 24-13 en route to a 43-30 halftime lead.
Gonzaga looked like it might blow the game open when Wiltjer and Pangos hit back-to-back 3-pointers during an 8-0 run to extend Gonzaga’s lead to 53-35 with 15 minutes remaining. But the Bison chipped away and cut the deficit to 68-62 on a drive by Werner before Pangos restored order with a four-point play, and North Dakota State never got closer than eight points thereafter.
GAME NOTEBOOK: North Dakota State, which ranked 13th in the nation in fewest fouls per game (15.1), had 13 in the first half alone and finished with 22 … The win was the 120th of Pangos’ career, an average of 30 per season. … Gonzaga freshman F Domantas Sabonis came off the bench to grab a game-high 11 rebounds to go along with seven points.
