Pangos, bench shine for Gonzaga
<p>Gonzaga guard David Stockton (11) heads to the basket as Oral Roberts guard Roderick Pearson Jr. tries to defend during the second half Thursday at the McCarthey Athletic Center in Spokane.</p>
SPOKANE (AP) - Gonzaga's young guns came through against a veteran Oral Roberts lineup in the Bulldogs' 67-61 victory on Thursday night.
Freshman guard Kevin Pangos led Gonzaga (6-2) with 14 points and seven assists.
Gary Bell Jr., another freshman guard, guarded Oral Roberts star Dominique Morrison most of the game and held the talented senior to 13 points on 4-for-12 shooting.
"He's a strong player," said Bell, who scored six points in his second start. "An NBA prospect, I heard. I think I did pretty good on him. I made his shots tough.
"That's all you can do. If he makes a tough shot, he makes a tough shot."
Elias Harris added 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulldogs, and Rob Sacre had nine points and 10 rebounds. Backup center Sam Dower scored 12 points for Gonzaga, which enjoyed a 23-4 bench-points edge.
Damen Bell-Holter, a former Gonzaga recruit, led Oral Roberts (7-4) with 16 points. Michael Craion matched Morrison's 13 points for the Golden Eagles, and Morrison had nine rebounds.
Gonzaga shot 60 percent from the field in the first half and led 37-29 at the break. The Golden Eagles never led in the second half, but Gonzaga's cushion was cut to 65-61 after Morrison sank two free throws with 1:47 remaining.
A pair of Pangos free throws accounted for the only scoring the rest of the way. Pangos sank 8 of 8 free throws to offset a 2-for-9 night from the field.
Gonzaga coach Mark Few labeled the game "a grinder. A gut check.
"I've been preaching all week they're a very good basketball team," Few said.
Bell said: "That's a (likely NCAA) tournament team that we played. They're a scrappy team, so we just had to raise our level of play.
"We made runs, they came back. We kept clawing and fighting to get the win."
Gonzaga had a 40-25 advantage in rebounds. However, the bigger Bulldogs had only a 24-22 advantage in points in the paint, and Oral Roberts enjoyed an 11-6 edge in second-chance points.
Gonzaga came in a loser of two straight games, to Illinois and Michigan State, after starting the season 5-0. Oral Roberts had won six of seven following a 0-2 start.