NCAA men’s basketball: Tillie leads No. 7 Gonzaga over San Francisco

Gonzaga's Killian Tillie (33) passes during the first half of a West Coast Conference tournament NCAA college basketball game against San Francisco, Monday, March 5, 2018, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)
Subscribe Now Choose a package that suits your preferences.
Start Free Account Get access to 7 premium stories every month for FREE!
Already a Subscriber? Current print subscriber? Activate your complimentary Digital account.

LAS VEGAS — Killian Tillie scored 26 points on 10-of-11 shooting, including connecting on all five 3-pointers, to lead No. 7 Gonzaga past San Francisco 88-60 on Monday night in the West Coast Conference Tournament semifinal game.

Tillie has made all 10 3-point attempts at the tournament and is 19-of-23 from the field.

Top-seeded Gonzaga will be going for their sixth consecutive WCC Tournament title on Tuesday night. They await the winner of the Saint Mary’s-BYU game.

Also for the top-seeded Bulldogs (29-4), Rui Hachimura had 17 points and Zach Norvell Jr. added 14. Johnathan Williams had 10 points and 10 rebounds for Gonzaga, which won its 13th straight, and 16th at the WCC Tournament.

Nate Renfro led the fourth-seeded Dons (18-15) with 15 points. Frankie Ferrari and Souley Boum each added nine points for San Francisco, which lost its 14 straight to Gonzaga.

The Bulldogs played a nearly flawless first half, shooting 18-of-28 (64 percent), including 8-of-14 (57 percent) from 3-point range.

After the Dons scored the game’s first two points, the Bulldogs went on a 13-2 run and never trailed again. San Francisco went on an 11-6 run but came no closer the rest of the game. Gonzaga, which had a 23-point advantage in the session, led 48-27 at halftime.

Gonzaga’s lead never got below 19 and grew to as many as 33 in the second half. The Bulldogs finished from the field at 53 percent, and 46 percent from 3-point range.

BYU 85, Saint Mary’s 72

LAS VEGAS — Yoeli Childs scored a career-high 33 points to lead BYU over No. 20 Saint Mary’s 85-72 in Monday night’s West Coast Conference Tournament semifinals.

Childs was 13 of 18 from the field, including hitting all three 3-point attempts. He also had six rebounds. Second-seed BYU (24-9), which shot 61 percent from the field, will play No. 7 and top-seed Gonzaga in the championship game Tuesday night.

Elijah Bryant added 25 points for the Cougars, going 8 of 13 from the field and making all eight free-throw attempts.

Jordan Ford led Saint Mary’s (28-5) with 27 points and six rebounds. The Gaels’ Jock Landale, who fouled out with 21 seconds left, had 23 points but only four rebounds. Landale committed his third foul with 1:49 left before halftime and fourth with 8:39 left in the game.

TJ Haws had 11 points, while Dalton Nixon had 10 points and six rebounds for the Cougars, who will be making their first tournament final appearance in three years.