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Kevin Pangos’ seven 3-pointers leads Gonzaga over Baylor

Kevin Pangos

It was a relatively quiet Kennel as many of the students at Gonzaga are home on winter break. But Kevin Pangos woke up the crowd several times with his seven 3-pointers, with 31 points (20 in the second half) to lead Gonzaga over a big 94-87 non-conference win over Baylor on Friday night in Spokane.

It was raining three’s in Spokane with Baylor connecting on 10 3-pointers, while Gonzaga had nine on the night. Pierre Jackson, who had a team-high 26 points hit four 3’s on the night, while Brady Heslip was held in check with only 1-for-5 from behind the arc.

Gonzaga took the lead with 4:53 remaining in the second half and never gave it back to Baylor. Gonzaga opened up a double digit lead several times. Kelly Olynyk had 21 points and Elias Harris added 17 and seven boards. Isaiah Austin had 20 points and eight boards.

Baylor couldn’t get Heslip going, who rarely got open looks. The Bears hurt themselves with 14 - seven from Jackson.

With the win, the Bulldogs have cemented themselves as the Big 12 killer so far this season, or at least for now. Gonzaga has beaten up on West Virginia and Oklahoma, while beating both Kansas State and Baylor in the midst of three-game winning streak, following the Zags first loss of the season against Illinois on Dec. 8.

Gonzaga heads to Stillwater, Okla. for a New Year’s Eve matchup against No. 22 Oklahoma State. Markel Brown and Marcus Smart should offer another tough backcourt for the Zags to face.

Gonzaga will look to add another key non-conference victory on Monday, but Baylor missed out on another opportunity to get a big out-of-conference victory. The Bears already took down Kentucky in Lexington on Dec. 1. Baylor was in a good position to pick up a win on the road in Spokane on Friday with an early start, but the three-point shooting of Gonzaga got them back in the game.

Baylor already has three bad losses on its resume, including Colorado, College of Charleston and Northwestern at home. It’s now Big 12 ball for the Bears, who have a over a week before they open conference play against the Myck Kabongo-less Texas Longhorns.

Terrence is also the lead writer at NEHoopNews.com and can be followed on Twitter: @terrence_payne