LOS ANGELES – Elias Harris scored 19 points and Gary Bell added 16 to help No. 21 Gonzaga beat Loyola Marymount 62-58 on Saturday night.
Kevin Pangos scored nine points and Robert Sacre had eight for the Bulldogs (14-3, 4-1 West Coast Conference), who pulled away early in the second half to avoid a second straight upset.
Ashley Hamilton had 16 points and LaRon Armstead added 14 for Loyola Marymount (10-8, 3-2), which made just six shots after halftime.
Gonzaga's lead was cut to 58-57 on a dunk by Hamilton with less than 2 minutes to play. After Drew Viney missed a leaner that would have given the Lions the lead, the long rebound was tracked down by Gonzaga.
Pangos worked the clock down and found Harris cutting along the baseline for an up-and-under layup that made it 60-57 with 8 seconds to go.
Gonzaga elected to prevent a game-tying 3-point attempt and sent Anthony Ireland to the line. He made the first and missed the second. Pargos came up with the ball following a scrum under the basket and was fouled.
With 1.5 seconds left, Pargos made a pair from the line for the four-point lead.
The Bulldogs trailed by two at halftime but opened the second with a 9-0 run. Bell hit a jumper, Sacre and Mike Hart had layups and Pangos hit a 3 for his first points of the game and a 41-34 lead.
The Lions went scoreless for over 6 minutes to open the half but got on the board with Armstead's free throws to cut it to 41-36. Harris then had back-to-back dunks and the Bulldogs scored six straight points to make it 47-36.
Ireland made a jumper and Hamilton split a pair of free throws as LMU climbed back to 54-53. Pangos hit two from the stripe on the other end to make it 56-53 in favor of Gonzaga.
The Lions had a chance to tie things on two occasions but turned the ball over twice. Pangos then hit two more free throws to extend the lead to 58-53 with 3:16 remaining.
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