Braeden Smith scored 16 of his season-high 21 points in the second half to power No. 7 Gonzaga past pesky Oregon 91-82 on Sunday in the Northwest Elite Showdown at the Trail Blazers’ home in Portland, Ore.
Gonzaga (12-1) enters West Coast Conference play next week with a nearly spotless record and wins over Alabama, Kentucky and UCLA on its ledger. Oregon (6-6) saw a modest two-game winning streak come to an end.
Smith went 5-for-7 from the floor and 6-for-6 from the foul line in the second half as he was instrumental in the Bulldogs finally establishing a double-digit lead. He converted a layup with 5:06 to go and Steele Venters hit a 3-pointer 43 seconds later to make it 82-67 Gonzaga, the largest lead of the game.
Takai Simpkins created a four-point play for Oregon when he was fouled on a made 3-pointer at the 4:04 mark. After that, Nate Bittle scored seven points for the Ducks to trim the deficit back to single figures in the late stages. But Gonzaga made six free throws over the final 1:12 to slowly salt it away.
Bittle led all scorers with 28 points and added nine rebounds and five assists for Oregon. Kwame Evans Jr. had 14 points, Simpkins 13 and Jackson Shelstad 12.
For the Bulldogs, Smith also finished with seven assists. He scored or assisted on nine of his team’s 15 made field goals after halftime.
Braden Huff supplemented Smith’s work with 20 points for Gonzaga. Graham Ike paired 17 points with 11 rebounds, Venters ended with 14 points and Tyon Grant-Foster added 10.
The first half featured seven lead changes and the teams were rarely further than five points apart from one another. Gonzaga grabbed its largest lead at 26-18 following Huff’s three-point play at the 9:11 mark. But Oregon answered with 10 straight points to flip the lead.
Grant-Foster beat the halftime buzzer with a 3-pointer to put the Bulldogs ahead 42-39. They carried that momentum into the first part of the second half, as a 17-8 run made it 59-47 Gonzaga before the Bulldogs hit a dry spell that allowed the Ducks to catch up. In one stretch, Evans accounted for seven straight Oregon points.
–Field Level Media
