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No. 8 Bulldogs Pull Away From Pilots

PORTLAND, Ore. --- Junior Kelly Olynyk scored 19 of his game-high 21 points in the second half as the No. 8 Gonzaga Bulldogs defeated the Portland Pilots 71-49 Thursday night before a sold out Chiles Center crowd of 4,852. Sophomore guard Kevin Bailey scored 16 points for the Pilots, while freshman guard Oskars Reinfelds added 12 off the bench.

Kevin Pangos scored 14 points for the Bulldogs (17-1, 4-0 WCC), while Elias Harris finished with 10 points and nine rebounds. Gonzaga extended its winning streak over Portland to 19 games with the victory.

The Pilots (8-11, 1-3) were outrebounded by a 36-22 margin and committed 17 turnovers in the game. Gonzaga took advantage with 30 points off of turnovers, a 19-4 edge in second chance points, and 36-18 margin in points in the paint.

After staking the visiting Bulldogs an early 16-2 lead, Reinfelds sparked an 8-0 rally with a three-pointer and assist on Bailey’s jumper to bring the Pilots within five at 31-26 with 1:47 left in the first half. Gonzaga answered with a Harris dunk and the third three-pointer of the period by Drew Barham to take a 36-26 lead into the half.

Portland hung around early in the second half as Bailey made back-to-back jumpers to make it 38-30. A pair of Ryan Nicholas free throws once again brought the deficit to single digits at 43-34, but the Bulldogs used an 11-2 run to take an 18-point lead.

The Pilots had one more rally to pull within 61-49 on a steal and layup by Bailey with 7:23 remaining, but that would be the final points of the game for Portland as Gonzaga scored the last ten points.

The team will have a quick turnaround before continuing its four-game West Coast Conference homestand against defending league champions Saint Mary’s on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are still available through all Ticketmaster outlets, online at Ticketmaster.com or through the Pilot Box Office (503) 943-7525. The game will be televised live on ROOT Sports.