Toreros Maintain Torrid Pace : Basketball: Strickland leads USD past Gonzaga, 89-80.

Wayman Strickland’s coming-out party continues, and so does the University of San Diego’s stay in first place.

Strickland completed a 50-point weekend with a 23-point performance Saturday night as the Toreros made it a sweep of the Northwest with an 89-80 West Coast Conference basketball victory over Gonzaga in front of 3,215 fans at Martin Centre.

USD’s sixth straight victory preserved a half-game lead over Pepperdine in the WCC race, the Toreros moving to 6-1 in the league and 13-6 overall. And the tough part may be over.

“It’s hard to go on the road in this league and these were two big wins,” said Strickland, USD’s junior point guard who had 27 points in a victory Thursday over Portland. “Now we’ve got six of our last eight at home.”

The Toreros are 6-1 in their own gym this season but showed no signs of panic Saturday--erasing a nine-point Gonzaga lead in the second half behind the scoring of Strickland and forward Kelvin Woods, who had 14 of his 22 points after intermission.

Gonzaga led 71-65 with just under nine minutes to play when Woods converted a three-point play to start a 10-0 USD run that turned the game around.

Gonzaga, which would go nearly six minutes without a field goal, finally stopped the run with two free throws by Eric Brady. But then Strickland, who is averaging 14 points a game in WCC play, stepped forward for a final time.

Drawing a foul on a three-point shot, Strickland made two free throws, then made a steal and layup to push USD’s lead to 79-73 with 4:44 to play.

“I’m shooting the ball real well,” said Strickland, who made seven of 11 shots, including four of six three-pointers. “The coach told me to be more aggressive, and I’ve just been working on my shot.”

Gonzaga, which had erased two different Torero leads in the first half, tried to launch another comeback, but USD managed to keep the ball out of the hands of the Bulldogs’ main threat, Jarrod Davis, who finished with a game-high 25 points. And Torero scoring leader Anthony Thomas, largely silent in the second half, scored on three consecutive possessions.

“They made a lot of big plays offensively,” said Gonzaga Coach Dan Fitzgerald, whose team slipped to 2-4 in the WCC and 11-8 overall. “It got so we just couldn’t stop them. They score 50 points in the second half and that’s a lot--especially when they’re working the clock and not really trying to score the last three minutes. They score on 10 of 12 possessions with the game on the line and that’s why they win.”

Gonzaga had battled from behind into a seven-point lead midway through the first half with three freshmen in the lineup, then took a 42-39 advantage at halftime when Kendall Simmons hit a three-pointer from the corner. With Brady, who finished with 17 points, making his first four shots of the second half, GU stretched its lead to 58-49 before Woods and Strickland brought the Toreros back.

“It’s easy to say now, but even while all that was going on I was thinking that this was a hell of a ballgame,” said USD coach Hank Egan, whose club swept the Northwest for the second year in a row. “These guys were a handful, but I think maybe our depth got to them a little bit. We may go a little farther down than they do and I think we might have stayed stronger at the end.”

If it showed any place, it was on the boards, where USD held a 39-29 advantage--Dondi Bell leading the way with 10. The Toreros also continued their torrid shooting with a 53.5% effort. Gonzaga shot 46.2%.

Michael Brown had 15 points and Thomas 13 for the Toreros.