Gaels clinch WCC three-peat on Zags’ home floor

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Gonzaga’s Nolan Hickman drives past Saint Mary’s Jordan Ross, right, to score a basket on Saturday night. ROBERT JOHNSON — GETTY IMAGES

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There have been plenty of conference championships celebrated in the home locker room of the McCarthey Athletic Center.

Saint Mary’s christened the visitors’ side Saturday night.

Mikey Lewis scored 18 points, Mitchell Saxen added 16 points and nine rebounds, and the Gaels (25-4, 15-1 WCC) pulled away late from the Bulldogs (21-8, 12-4) to claim their third straight West Coast Conference title, 74-67.

Lewis, a freshman from Oakland, was 5 for 7 from 3-point territory and needed only 18 minutes to rack up all his points, including 12 in the second half. Saint Mary’s which never trailed on its way to clinching the championship outright.

Gonzaga had claimed at least a share of the title in 24 of the past 27 seasons.

Santa Clara 109, Washington State 79 >> Carlos Stewart Jr. led four Santa Clara players in double figures as the Broncos drained a program-record 23 3-pointers and ran away from Washington State.

Stewart scored 22 on 8-of-12 shooting, Elijah Mahi added 19, Johnny O’Neil 17 and Tyeree Bryan 12 for Santa Clara (19-10, 11-5 WCC), which topped 90 points for the 10th time this season, matching the 1969-70 team for the school record. The 109 points were a season-high for the Broncos, who have two regular-season games remaining.

San Jose State 82, Wyoming 73 >> Josh Uduje came one shy of his career-high to lead San Jose State to its first victory at Wyoming in program history.

Uduje finished with 29 points on 11-of-16 shooting and Latrell Davis also contributed 17 points and eight rebounds off the bench for the Spartans (13-16, 6-11 Mountain West), who rebounded from the program’s worst loss in four seasons, 105-57, to Utah State on Wednesday.

Women

USF 70, Gonzaga 68 >> Freja Werth scored a team-high 19 points, Cami Fulcher contributed 13 and Angeliki Ziaka sank a 3-pointer to put USF up for good in a road upset at Gonzaga.

Ziaka finished with 12 points for the Dons (13-14, 10-8), who trailed 34-25 at halftime but used a 10-2 run out of the break to quickly close the gap.

The Bulldogs (20-9, 15-3) had four players in double figures, led by Yvonne Ejim’s 19 points and eight rebounds, but were handed a loss for only the third time in 21 meetings since Molly Goodenbour took over at USF. The win wrapped up the Dons’ road schedule, finshing 5-10 away from War Memorial Gym.