Playing in its second NCAA Tournament over the last four seasons, No. 14 seed Kennesaw State hung with heavily-favored Gonzaga all night in their first-round matchup Thursday in the NCAA Tournament.
But the third-seeded Bulldogs proved to be too much for the Owls, as Gonzaga pulled away for a 73-64 victory in Portland, Oregon, to advance to the tournament’s second round in the West Region.
RJ Johnson and Amir Taylor each had 15 points for Kennesaw State (21-14), which made its second March Madness appearance after winning its first Conference USA Tournament.
Graham Ike scored 19 points and Davis Fogle added 17 points for the Bulldogs, who will face No. 11 seed Texas on Saturday.
“Just couldn’t get over that hump,” Kennesaw State coach Antoine Pettway said. “That’s a really good team and coach (Mark) Few does a tremendous job. That dude Graham is a handful, but I thought our guys battled and stuck to the game plan. We will be back; it was a great taste.”
Fogle’s dunk gave Gonzaga its first double-digit lead at 57-46 with 7:54 to go, but the Owls capitalized on a series of late fouls by the Bulldogs that enraged both the large Gonzaga crowd at the Moda Center and Few.
“We battled the storms,” Ike said. “This team is built for adversity from the jump, and I’m just super proud of how we handle it.”
Ike was called for a flagrant foul on Frankquon Sherman, who made both shots to get Kennesaw State within 67-60 with 3:06 to go.
Mario Saint-Supery headed to the Zags’ bench after his fifth foul and Sherman made free throws to get the Owls within 69-64. Ike answered with a jumper, and Gonzaga held on.
“I’m really happy that we got through this one,” Few said. “It wasn’t pretty. But the bottom line is you just win. And we get to move on.”
Jalen Warley added 12 points and 12 rebounds for Gonzaga (31-3), which has made 27 straight tournament appearances. The Zags lost in the national title game in 2017 and ’21.
Gonzaga reached the 30-win plateau for the ninth time in program history and won the West Coast Conference Tournament for the sixth time in seven years. The Bulldogs will be part of the Pac-12’s relaunch next season as a non-football member.
Gonzaga was a 20½-point favorite, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. But Kennesaw State led 14-7 after the first nine minutes and maintained the lead until Warley’s layup put Gonzaga in front 19-18 with 5:46 to go in the half. The game was back-and-forth from there as the Bulldogs failed to put away the physical Owls.
“We were really soft on the offensive end and we weren’t drawing any fouls,” Few said. “We weren’t creating any advantages, we weren’t getting the ball to the rim. It started by just getting some stops and getting out and attacking.”
Gonzaga went on a 10-0 run to close out the first half with a 33-27 lead. The Zags stretched it to 42-31 early in the second half.
The Owls closed within 42-38 on Kaden Rickard’s layup. A pair of free throws from Johnson and Sherman’s layup got Kennesaw State within 43-42 with 11:47 to go. But the Bulldogs responded with Emmanuel Innocenti’s 3-pointer and Ike’s dunk.
Gonzaga remains without forward Braden Huff because of a knee injury. He has missed 16 straight games and was not expected to return in the opening rounds.
The Owls reached 20 wins this season for just the second time in school history, despite losing leading scorer Simeon Cottle at midseason because of a federal probe into gambling. They finished sixth in the CUSA regular-season standings before rolling through the conference tourney.
— Material from The Associated Press was used in this story.
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