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Gonzaga Defeats Creighton To Move On To Elite Eight In NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament

Courtesy of Gonzaga University

The Gonzaga men’s basketball team is one win away from its second-ever Final Four. They’ll play the Southern California Trojans Tuesday night in Indianapolis.

The top-ranked Bulldogs on Sunday posted a decisive 83-65 win over the Creighton Bluejays in the Sweet Sixteen round of the NCAA Tournament in Indianapolis.The Zags jumped to an early 9-2 lead. Creighton pulled within two, but Gonzaga rebuilt the lead and led by 10 at halftime. The Zags got off to a quick start in the second half, extending the lead to 27 before cruising to the win. Drew Timme scored 22 points to lead the Zags.

Gonzaga is 29-0. It now has three of the six wins it needs to become the first undefeated national champion since Indiana in 1976. The Bulldogs will play Southern California in the West regional final on Tuesday evening. The Trojans beat the Oregon Ducks in a Sunday night game featuring two Pacific-12 Conference teams.

The Pac-12, which many basketball observers believed was the weakest of the major conferences this season, leads all conferences with three representatives in the Elite Eight. The others are Oregon State, led by Spokane native Wayne Tinkle, and UCLA.

The Beavers from Corvallis, Oregon defeated Loyola Chicago, 65-58, on Saturday. They will play the Houston Cougars, led by former Washington State coach Kelvin Sampson, on Monday in the Midwest Regional final for the right to play in the Final Four next weekend. And UCLA beat Alabama, 88-78 in overtime. The Bruins will play Michigan in the East regional final on Tuesday.