Gonzaga Loss Is Good for Pepperdine

Nathan Fast scored 23 points and Brian Jones added 22 as Santa Clara upset Gonzaga, 81-70, on Friday night at Santa Clara, Calif., all but ending the Bulldogs’ bid for a third consecutive West Coast Conference title.

Gonzaga (20-8, 10-3 in the WCC) is a game back of conference leader Pepperdine with a game to play. The loss clinched the top seeding for Pepperdine in the WCC tournament, to be held at Santa Clara’s Toso Pavilion starting March 4. Gonzaga will be seeded No. 2.

Jamie Holmes added 12 points for the Broncos (17-11, 8-5).

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Elsewhere in the WCC: Darrell Tucker scored 22 points to lead San Francisco (19-7, 7-6) to a 68-49 victory against Portland (10-16, 4-9) at San Francisco.

In women’s top 25 games: Kristi Rohr scored 28 points to spark No. 10 UC Santa Barbara (24-3, 12-0) to an 85-63 victory against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (6-18, 2-10) in a Big West Conference game at San Louis Obispo. . . . At Harrisonburg, Va., Sharron Francis had 16 points as No. 15 Old Dominion (22-4, 14-0 in the Colonial Athletic Assn.) defeated James Madison (16-9, 9-5) for the Lady Monarchs’ 97th consecutive conference victory.