MORAGA, Calif. — Przemek Karnowski scored 19 points and No. 1 Gonzaga survived its toughest remaining obstacle to an undefeated regular season by beating No. 20 Saint Mary’s 74-64 on Saturday night.
Johnathan Williams added 17 points and Nigel Williams-Goss had 14 to help the Bulldogs (26-0, 14-0) sweep the season series and win for the 11th time in the past 13 meetings against their fiercest conference rival.
The trip to Saint Mary’s (22-3, 12-2) was viewed as the last true test for Gonzaga before the postseason begins. The Bulldogs were seeded fourth overall in preliminary rankings for the NCAA tournament released earlier Saturday and can ill afford a slip-up if they want to be assured of being a top seed in a region next month.
Jock Landale scored 24 points despite being limited by foul trouble to lead the way for the Gaels, who couldn’t get enough perimeter help for their big man to stay with the Bulldogs. Saint Mary’s made just 4 of 15 3-point attempts.
The scene at overflowing McKeon Pavilion was electric for the first visit by the No. 1 team since Bill Russell and San Francisco came to Moraga in 1955. ESPN’s “GameDay” show was on hand and fans packed the aisles for the standing-room only crowd.
It was a first half of runs with the teams trading 9-0 spurts early before Gonzaga broke things open with a 17-2 stretch late in the half. The Gaels then got the final six points from Landale to cut the deficit to 40-31 at the break.
But Saint Mary’s never got closer than seven points in the second half as Gonzaga answered every charge.
No. 2 Villanova 73, No. 24 Xavier 57: In Cincinnati, Jalen Brunson and Donte DiVincenzo scored 17 points apiece in Villanova’s balanced offense, and the Wildcats led most of the way against Xavier, which suffered another significant injury.
It was a costly game for the Musketeers, who already are missing point guard Edmond Sumner to a torn ACL. Trevon Bluiett, who is second to Villanova’s Josh Hart for the Big East lead in scoring, appeared to aggravate his sprained right ankle midway through the first half and had to be helped off the court.
RaShid Gaston led the Musketeers with 23 points and 10 rebounds.
No. 3 Kansas 80, Texas Tech 79: Josh Jackson had 31 points and 11 rebounds and made a free throw with 2.8 seconds left for visiting Kansas.
Keenan Evans finished with 25 points and Niem Stevenson had a career-high 22 points and 10 rebounds for Texas Tech.
No. 4 Louisville 71, Miami 66: Quentin Snider returned from an injury to score 13 points, including a big 3-pointer with 41 seconds remaining, and Deng Adel and Donovan Mitchell added 18 points each for host Louisville.
Ja’Quan Newton had 15 points for the Hurricanese.
No. 6 Baylor 70, TCU 52: Johnathan Motley had 25 points on 12-of-15 shooting for Baylor in Waco, Texas.
Jaylen Fisher had 18 points for TCU.
No. 13 West Virginia 85, Kansas State 66: Jevon Carter had 19 points and nine rebounds to lead West Virginia in Morgantown, W.Va.
Wesley Iwundu led five Wildcats in double figures with 14 points.
Notre Dame 84, No. 14 Florida State 72: In South Bend, Ind., Bonzie Colson scored a career-high 33 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to help Notre Dame avenge a January loss to Florida State.
Terrance Mann led Florida State with 15 points, and Dwayne Bacon and Trent Forrest each had 12.
No. 15 Kentucky 67, Alabama 58: In Tuscaloosa, Ala., Isaiah Briscoe had 11 points, 11 rebounds and four assists to help Kentucky weather one of its lowest scoring outputs.
Braxton Key led Alabama with 21 points.
No. 17 Florida 71, Texas A&M 62: Justin Leon scored 18 points, and Canyon Barry added 12 for Florida.
Robert Williams led the Aggies with 18 points and 12 rebounds.
No. 18 Duke 64, Clemson 62: Luke Kennard scored 25 points for Duke in Durham, N.C.
Playing less than 48 hours after an emotion-draining victory over No. 8 North Carolina on Thursday night, the Blue Devils blew a 14-point lead in the second half and needed a stop at the buzzer to seal their fifth straight victory.
Shelton Mitchell had a career-high 23 points and Elijah Thomas finished with 15 for the Tigers.
No. 21 Maryland 86, Ohio State 77: Anthony Cowan scored 19 points and fellow freshman Kevin Huerter added 18 as Maryland ended its first losing streak of the season in College Park, Md.
Marc Loving led the Buckeyes.
Providence 71, No. 22 Butler 65: Alpha Diallo scored 15 points and Kyron Cartwright had 14 for host Providence.
Nate Fowler scored a career-high 19 points and Kamar Baldwin had 11 rebounds for Butler, which has lost three of four. Fowler made his first seven shots to make up for poor shooting by the rest of the Bulldogs.
No. 23 Creighton 93, DePaul 58: Toby Hegner set a season high with 14 points and matched one with four 3-pointers and Marcus Foster scored 13 points for Creighton in Rosemont, Ill.
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