SPOKANE, Wash. – Gonzaga looked like the team that made a run to the 2017 NCAA title game, scoring in a variety of ways, sharing the ball and controlling the paint.
Silas Melson tallied a game-high 19 points and Zach Norvell Jr. scored 14 to lead seven players in double figures for the 20th-ranked Bulldogs who cruised to a 101-52 victory over Santa Clara men's basketball on Saturday in West Coast Conference play.
Josh Perkins posted 12 points and eight assists for Gonzaga (12-3, 2-0), which shot a blistering 55 percent from the floor. Norvell Jr. also had eight assists.
Emmanuel Ndumanya was the lone bright spot for the Broncos (4-10, 1-1), scoring a career-high 12 points. However, senior center, who was 6-for-6 from the free-throw line, was the only player in double figures.
Leading scorer KJ Feagin was held to nine points on 3-for-9 from the floor as the Broncos shot just 5-for-19 from behind the 3-point line.
When Santa Clara has been successful this season, it has held on to the ball, but the Bulldogs forced a season-high 21 turnovers, which was they turned into 33 points.
The Broncos have struggled to get stops and their zone was ineffective against Gonzaga, which had a season-high 28 assists on 36 field goals and recorded only seven turnovers.
"We thought that gave us the best chance (on defense)," Santa Clara head coach Herb Sendek said.
Rui Hachimura and Jeremy Jones each scored 11, and Jacob Larsen and Corey Kispert registered 10 points apiece for Gonzaga whose bench out-scored the Broncos 44-9.
The Bulldogs scored the first 15 points of the game and were never threatened.
Perkins nailed two 3-pointers in the opening minutes of the game and his third increased the lead to 33-10.
The Broncos, who had seven turnovers in the first nine minutes of the game, shot nearly 50 percent from the field in the opening half, but Gonzaga took 11 more shots and connected on 63 percent to build a 52-25 lead at the break.
The Bulldogs put the game out of reach with an 19-2 run that began four minutes into the second half and ended with them leading 81-38.
"They beat us in every way," Sendek said. "There wasn't any particular isolated category."
NOTES
• Matt Hauser, KJ Feagin, Henry Caruso, Josip Vrankic and Emmanuel Ndumanya started for the eighth time this season, including second-straight contest.
• In a series which began in 1946, Gonzaga now leads, 60-30. The Bulldogs have won the last 16 meetings. Santa Clara's last victory occurred on Jan. 20, 2011, when the Broncos downed the Bulldogs, 85-71, in Leavey Center.
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