SAN DIEGO -- The Gonzaga Bulldogs suddenly figured it out.
Chastised by their coach after a loss two nights earlier for worrying too much about offense, the No. 11 Bulldogs embarrassed the San Diego Toreros 68-56 on Saturday.
The Bulldogs frustrated San Diego so much in the first eight minutes of the second half that the Toreros missed their first 10 shots. Gonzaga didn't miss much in that span, going on a 16-0 run to rebound from a 73-70 loss at San Francisco on Thursday night.
"We were really flying around," Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. "It was probably our best defensive game of the year."
Center J.P. Batista scored a career-high 22 points for the Bulldogs, who outrebounded the Toreros 46-23, including 13 by Ronny Turiaf.
On Thursday night, Gonzaga was outrebounded by 10.
"We didn't have time to physically work on it, but we talked about it at length and showed them film and challenged them and they responded," Few said.
"Our whole mentality was better. Our rebounding and defense really turned the game for us."
The Toreros, who were simply shocked.
"They did a nice job, but we'll never miss that many shots again," coach Brad Holland said. "We missed inside shots, outside shots. Gonzaga had something to do with that."
San Diego, which blew a 10-point lead in the first half, shot just 30.6 percent overall. San Diego scored just 22 points in the second half. Earlier this season, Gonzaga held Montana and Massachusetts to just 20 points each in the first half
Gonzaga was pretty good on the offensive end, too.
"I thought defensively we were extremely tough in the first 20-25 seconds of each possession, but once the ball went up we got destroyed," Holland said.
The Bulldogs extended their 35-34 halftime lead to 51-34 with 13:33 left to play.
Derek Raivio scored six points during the 16-0 run, including a 3-point shot and three free throws after he was fouled taking a 3-pointer, and Batista, a junior college transfer, scored four.
San Diego finally scored its first points of the second half when Nick Lewis made a short shot from the baseline, was fouled and converted the three-point play that made it 51-37.
Gonzaga's biggest lead was 66-46 after Raivio made two free throws with 4:08 left.
Batista's previous career high was 18 in a 78-75 win over Oklahoma State on Dec. 28.
"Since my breakout game against Oklahoma State, I've been feeling really comfortable and have been able to play my game," Batista said. "My teammates have been passing the ball and I've been playing well at both ends of the court."
Raivio finished with 17 points. Turiaf scored only seven points, nearly 10 under his average.
Brandon Gay scored 22 for the Toreros (10-8, 2-3).
San Diego led 20-10 following a dunk by Gay with 11:14 left in the first half. Gonzaga gradually closed the gap, with Batista scoring six points. Gonzaga finally took its first lead of the game with 3.6 seconds left before halftime when Raivio made two free throws.
