Feb 7, 2002
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) - Dan Dickau scored 22 points and No. 9 Gonzaga beat Santa Clara 84-69 Thursday night in front of the biggest crowd ever in the new Leavey Center and the largest since 1998 on the Mission Campus.
Kyle Bailey had 22 of his career-high 30 points in the second half for Santa Clara (9-13, 4-5), which got within 59-54 with 11:11 left on a 3-pointer by Justin Holbrook.
Zach Gourde scored 16 points and Cory Violette added 14 for Gonzaga (21-3, 8-1 West Coast Conference), which scored 15 of the game's final 22 points.
A crowd of 4,712 was on hand, which was the largest regular-season game at Santa Clara since 4,875 were in attendance at the San Francisco game on Jan. 24, 1998 in Toso Pavilion. The final game of Toso's existence, the 2000 WCC Tournament final that featured the Broncos against Pepperdine. 4,873 were in attendance in the last game prior to the renovation of the arena that began that spring.
Bailey's fourth 3-pointer of the second half, with 5:40 left, cut Gonzaga's lead to 69-62. But Dickau hit 3-pointers on the next two possessions, leading a 10-0 run that put the game away.
Gonzaga opened up an 11-point lead after a 9-0 run midway through the first half on two baskets from Alex Hernandez, a 3-pointer from Blake Stepp and a jump hook from Violette.
Dickau, the Zags' leading scorer at 20.5 points per game, scored 11 of Gonzaga's final 16 points of the first half.
Last season, the Broncos snapped Gonzaga's 14-game winning streak - then the nation's longest - with a 84-71 victory at Santa Clara.