STOCKTON, Calif. – The Pacific men's basketball program put forth a valiant effort but fell 78-61 to Gonzaga on Saturday in front of 3,178 fans at the Alex G. Spanos Center.
 
The Tigers (8-19, 3-10 WCC) fell behind Gonzaga (18-7, 9-3 WCC) early and were playing catch-up for most of the way. Pacific fought until the final buzzer though and outscored Gonzaga 21-10 in the final 7:30 of the contest.
 
The Tigers shot .538 from the floor in the second half after posting a .276 mark in the first. The two teams were tied in rebounding 37-37 on the night.
 
Junior Lamar Washington led the team in scoring for the second straight game with 22 points and eight rebounds. He was coming off a 19-point outing in the team's win over San Diego on Thursday. His eight rebounds were one shy of his career-high.
 
Also reaching double-figures was senior Elias Ralph with 10 points and five rebounds. Pacific's offense was spread around as junior Elijah Fisher recorded nine points.
 
The Bulldogs garnered five double-figure scorers with Braden Huff recording a team-high 17 points off the bench. Gonzaga cashed-in at the free throw line where it was 23-of-26 (.885).
 
Pacific's only lead of the game came on the opening basket as Washington hit a jumper in the paint. The Tigers trailed just 12-11 midway through the first half when Gonzaga went on a 14-1 run to open up a 26-11 advantage.
 
Washington had the hot hand late in the game and scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half.
 
Pacific will begin a three-game road trip Thursday when it heads to LMU for a 7 p.m. tip. The next home game is Saturday, Feb. 22 when the Tigers host Portland at 4 p.m.
 
NOTES
- The Tigers are now 809-460 all-time at home and 346-227 in the Alex G. Spanos Center.
 
- Pacific has already surpassed its season win total by two games and conference win total by three games from last year.
 
- The Tigers held the Bulldogs to 78 points after Gonzaga entered the game ranked second in the nation in scoring with 87.6 points per game.
 
- Washington's 22 points were the second-most of his career, only behind a 40-point effort in a win at Washington State earlier this year. Washington was 9-of-14 from the field and 4-of-5 from the free throw line.
 
- Ralph entered the game ranked top-five in the WCC in field goal percentage (.486) and was 4-of-8 (.500) in the game. It was his 24th double-figure scoring game of the season.
 
Tigers Tickets
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