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Graham Ike scores 19 points as No. 9 Gonzaga beats Portland 89-48 to clinch WCC crown

Graham Ike scores 19 points as No. 9 Gonzaga beats Portland 89-48 to clinch WCC crown

Gonzaga forward Graham Ike, front, shoots while pressured by Portland center Jermaine Ballisager Webb during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in Spokane, Wash. (AP Photo/Young Kwak) Photo: Associated Press


SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Graham Ike scored 19 points and matched a school record with seven steals as No. 9 Gonzaga routed Portland 89-48 on Wednesday night to clinch its first West Coast Conference regular-season championship in three years.

Braeden Smith added 15 points for the Bulldogs (28-2, 16-1), who avenged their 87-80 loss at Portland on Feb. 4. Mario Saint-Supery and Tyon Grant-Foster each scored 12, and Ike grabbed eight rebounds.

Joel Foxwell led the Pilots (12-18, 5-12) with 12 points. Portland shot 34.7% from the field and committed 22 turnovers.

In their final WCC home game before joining the reconstructed Pac-12 next season, the Bulldogs clinched the top seed in the conference tournament for the first time since 2022. Gonzaga has earned the No. 1 seed 11 times in the 17 seasons the WCC Tournament has been held in Las Vegas since 2009.

Battling through double teams in the post, Ike stepped outside and drilled a pair of early 3-pointers and accounted for 12 of Gonzaga’s first 17 points. His second 3 sparked a 16-0 run that gave the Bulldogs a double-digit lead.

Late in the first half, Saint-Supery tossed a lob to Grant-Foster for a two-handed dunk, which sent Gonzaga into the break with a 36-21 lead.

The Bulldogs opened the second half with a 10-0 run — including 3-pointers from Adam Miller and Emmanuel Innocenti — and led by at least 20 the rest of the way.

With the game out of reach, coach Mark Few pulled Ike with five minutes remaining. That snapped Ike’s 10-game streak of scoring 20 or more points — the longest such run by a Gonzaga player under Few.

The fifth-year forward entered the night leading active Division I players with 2,456 career points. He is the only active Division I player with at least 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.

Up next

Gonzaga visits Saint Mary’s on Saturday looking to secure an outright WCC crown.

Portland hosts San Diego on Saturday.

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