LOS ANGELES — Sam Dower scored a career-high 28 points and pulled down 14 rebounds, leading Gonzaga to an 82-72 win at Loyola Marymount on Saturday.
Gonzaga (16-3, 6-1 West Coast Conference) stifled a second half comeback attempt from LMU (10-10, 2-6) with a 13-2 run midway through the half to pull away.
LMU erased a 42-33 halftime deficit and took a brief lead at 52-50 on Evan Payne’s bucket with 14:11 left. But Gonzaga regained the lead and stretched its advantage to as many as 13 with 6:29 left. The Lions were unable to cut the deficit to fewer than seven points in the game’s last 5 minutes.
Dower’s performance sent him over the 1,000 career points mark at Gonzaga. Drew Barham added 16 points and Gerard Coleman had 11.
Payne scored 19 to lead LMU. C.J. Blackwell and Anthony Ireland had 13 points apiece and Ireland added nine assists.
