No. 7 Gonzaga Holds Off Bison in NCAA Second Round, 86-76

Friday, March 20

Seattle, Wash.

8:50 p.m.

North Dakota State Athletics

23-10

Gonzaga

33-2

Team	1	2	F
North Dakota State	30	46	76
Gonzaga	43	43	86

Photo by: Stephen Brashear

No. 7 Gonzaga Holds Off Bison in NCAA Second Round, 86-76

3/20/2015 11:55:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

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SEATTLE – No. 15 seed North Dakota State fell 86-76 to second-seeded Gonzaga in the second round of the NCAA men's basketball tournament Friday, March 20, before a crowd of 14,852 at KeyArena.

Dexter Werner scored a career-high 22 points and Lawrence Alexander had 19 for NDSU, which ended its season 23-10 overall. It was the third NCAA tournament in seven years for the Bison.

Gonzaga led by as many as 18 midway through the second half, but North Dakota State went on a 16-4 run to trim the deficit to 57-51 on Werner's three-point play with 11:13 to go.

Werner's back-to-back field goals made it 68-62 with six minutes left, but Gonzaga pulled away behind West Coast Conference MVP Kevin Pangos, who scored 12 of his team's final 18 points.

Kyle Wiltjer scored a game-high 23 points and Pangos finished with 18 for the Bulldogs, who improved to 33-2 and will face Iowa in the third round.

North Dakota State made three straight 3-pointers to start the game, but Gonzaga went on a 20-4 run and opened up a 43-30 lead by halftime.

NDSU shot 59 percent in the second half and finished the game 29 of 54 overall for 54 percent, outshooting the nation's No. 1 field goal percentage team.

Gonzaga was 30 of 58 overall for 52 percent and outscored NDSU 19-8 at the foul line.

The taller Zags had a 35-24 advantage on the glass with Domantas Sabonis grabbing 11 rebounds. Kory Brown had six boards to lead NDSU.

Alexander finished the year with 624 points, third most in NDSU single-season history. He finished fourth in school history with 1,755 career points.