SPOKANE, Wash. -- J.P. Batista and his Gonzaga teammates sent the rest of the West Coast Conference a message this week with wins over its two toughest league opponents.
"This sets the tone for the second half of the season," Batista said. "We struggled in the beginning, but we are back. We are on top of this league."
Batista had 19 points and a career-high 15 rebounds, and Gonzaga beat cold-shooting Santa Clara 92-75 on Saturday. On Thursday, the Bulldogs edged Saint Mary's to climb into a tie with the Gaels for first place.
Ronny Turiaf and Adam Morrison each scored 22 points, and point guard Derek Raivio added 19 points and 10 assists for Gonzaga (17-4, 7-2 WCC) in the foul-plagued game.
The Bulldogs built an early lead as Santa Clara made only one of its first 13 shots.
Santa Clara (12-12, 5-4 WCC), which has wins over North Carolina and Stanford this season and normally plays Gonzaga tough, shot just 39 percent. Kyle Bailey led the Broncos with 25 points, hitting 10 of 11 free throws.
"We got out to a poor start," Santa Clara coach Dick Davey said. "It became a constant come-from-behind situation.
"(Gonzaga) played as well as I've seen them play," he added.
It was a typical physical game between the two rivals, with Santa Clara getting called for 27 fouls and Gonzaga 21. Santa Clara had two technicals and Gonzaga one.
"Emotions were running high," said Davey, whose team lost by only four in the teams' first meeting at Santa Clara.
"It's just a brawl out there it seems like," Raivio added.
Gonzaga won its 10th consecutive against Santa Clara by using its superior height inside to outrebound the Broncos 44-28.
Santa Clara trailed by 10 at halftime, but Bailey's 3-pointer capped an 8-0 run that cut Gonzaga's lead to 50-43 early in the second. Gonzaga replied with seven consecutive points, four on inside baskets by Batista.
Then Morrison hit three 3-pointers in a two-minute span during a 12-3 run by Gonzaga that gave the Bulldogs a 69-48 lead with 12:39 left.
The Bulldogs sank 13 of their first 19 shots of the second half to run away with the game, and finished with 50 percent shooting.
Gonzaga coach Mark Few was pleased with the way his team responded to Santa Clara's second-half run. He was also impressed by the aggressive play of Turiaf, who had eight rebounds and two blocked shots.
"Ronny is back to attacking as good as he was at the start of the year," Few said. "He's been a little reactive and gun-shy after spraining both ankles."
After Santa Clara's Mitch Henke made a 3-pointer in the opening seconds of the game, the Broncos missed 12 field-goal attempts until Travis Niesen sank a short jumper with 11:04 left to pull to 17-7.
Santa Clara was just 3-of-21 from the field at one point. But Gonzaga could not pull away, and Doron Perkins scored six unanswered points for the Broncos to cut Gonzaga's lead to 23-17.
Gonzaga led 41-31 at halftime behind 43 percent shooting and Batista's 12 points and 10 rebounds. Santa Clara made just nine of 30 shots in the half.
Both teams were assessed technical fouls in the first half. Perkins, the Broncos' second leading scorer at 15 points per game, picked up a technical early in the second, his fourth foul of the game, and fouled out with 10 points on two of 12 shooting.
Technicals also played a role in the teams' first meeting at Santa Clara, when the Broncos had three in a game that Gonzaga won by just four points.
Gonzaga is 34-0 at home when ranked and has won 22 in a row at home overall.
Gonzaga has held nine opponents under 40 percent shooting this season, and only Portland State and Washington have shot better than 50 percent.
