SPOKANE, Wash. – USF gave Gonzaga something to think about for the first half before the nation's top-ranked team flexed its muscle to pull away for a 96-61 win Thursday night at the McCarthey Athletic Center.
 
Gonzaga's Nigel Williams-Goss scored a game-high 30 points while Przemek Karnowski added 23 for the Bulldogs which remain the only unbeaten team in the country at 27-0. Chase Foster scored a team-high 15 points for USF while Matt McCarthy (11) and Ronnie Boyce (10) also reached double figures for the Dons, which go to 18-10 overall and 8-7 in the WCC.
 
The win is Gonzaga's 11th straight in the series and 28th in a row over the Dons in Spokane dating back to USF's last win on Feb. 10, 1989. 
  With five underclassmen in its starting lineup, the Dons showed no signs of being intimidated playing the nation's top-ranked team before the usual raucous crowd in The Kennel. The Dons hit first seven of their first 12 shots from the floor to open a 16-11 lead over the Bulldogs midway through the first half.
 
The game was tied at 22 with 7:37 left in first half when Williams-Goss nailed a triple to give Gonzaga a 25-22 lead it would not relinquish the rest of the night.
 
After leading 42-35 at the break, Gonzaga outscored USF 10-2 to start the second period and opened 52-37 lead, forcing Kyle Smith to call a timeout. The Zags' lead grew to 20 at 63-43 with 13:56 remaining then to 30 at 82-52 before winning by the final count of 96-61.
 
"I thought we competed really well for the first 16 minutes of the game and they put a little run on us which continued to start the second half," said USF head coach Kyle Smith. "You can't let your guard down against them. They got after us pretty good defensively in the second half and got out in transition, which makes it really hard."
 
After shooting 50 percent in the first half against a Gonzaga team which entered the game allowing the second-lowest field goal percentage in the country, the Dons cooled to 23.5 percent in the second half and ended at 35.5 percent for the game. The Zags shot 50.8 percent from the field and nailed 10-of-24 three-pointers on the night.
 
"You go into every game with the thought of winning and we really executed well for most of the first half," said Smith. "We just weren't able to stay with it and ran into a buzz saw in the second half."
 
USF will return to action on Saturday when it faces the Portland Pilots. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. at the Chiles Center.