Submitted by Fox First at Ten on November 9th
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - Freshman Przemek Karnowski scored 22 points to lead No. 21 Gonzaga to a 103-65 win over Southern Utah on Friday night in the season opener for both teams.
Karnowski, a highly touted 7-foot-1 center from Poland, led six players in double figures. Guy Landry Edi scored a career-high 16 points, Sam Dower had 15, Elias Harris and David Stockton had 12 apiece and Kevin Pangos added 10.
Jackson Stevenett led Southern Utah with 29 points on 11-of-15 shooting. Waded Collie added 10 points for the Thunderbirds.
Gonzaga
, which was never threatened after halftime, opened the second half with a 12-2 run and allowed only one Southern Utah field goal in the first 5 minutes. A free throw by Gary Bell Jr. gave the Bulldogs their biggest lead of the night at 83-45 with 7:47 left.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE:
The day has finally come for Gonzaga. It is game day at The Kennel, with the Zags hosting Southern Utah Friday evening.
The game, at 6 p.m. (PT), can be seen on KHQ and SWX within the Spokane area.
Southern Utah begins a new era, as Nick Robinson coaches his first regular season game as head coach of the Thunderbirds. The team is also playing its first season in the Big Sky Conference.
For Gonzaga, coming out strong in the first game of the season is important, given that they narrowly survived a scare last season against Eastern Washington.
"We had a good lesson last year against Eastern, they came out and were just phenomenal, outstanding," said senior forward Elias Harris. " It could happen any night. Any team can come in here and have that kind of game where they just hit every shot and be just really difficult. We just need to mentally prepared for everything."
"Every team is good, you can't relax at all," added guard Kevin Pangos. "No matter what their name is, where they're from, every game matters. So, Eastern gave us a tight one last year. We don't want to start off slow. We want to get that win and make a statement right off the bat."
