Gonzaga Loses Two Players in Victory

No. 16-ranked Gonzaga continued its dominance of local rival Eastern Washington Wednesday, but its 70-49 victory at Spokane proved costly.

Gonzaga (9-2) lost seniors Tony Skinner and Richard Fox to injuries in defeating Eastern Washington (3-9) for the 18th time in a row.

Skinner, a starting forward, broke his hand early and Fox, a valuable front-court reserve, went out with a knee injury.

Coach Mark Few said Skinner will likely be sidelined for several months. The severity of Fox’s injury was not determined.

Gonzaga took a 41-21 lead at halftime as Eastern Washington made only six of 26 shots.

The Bulldogs got 15 points apiece from Ronny Turiaf and freshman Adam Morrison, and Blake Stepp had 14 points and eight assists.

No. 8 Kentucky 61, Austin Peay 53 -- The Wildcats (8-1) withstood a second-half rally by the Governors (3-7) at Louisville, Ky. Kentucky never trailed, but needed five-for-six shooting from the free-throw line in the final minute to hold off Austin Peay, which trimmed a 17-point second-half deficit to 56-53 with 2:49 left.

The Governors squandered a chance to tie when Adrian Henning missed a three-point attempt with 2:02 left. They missed their last four shots and two free-throw tries.

OTHER GAMES

San Diego State 67, Portland 61 -- Aerick Sanders had a career-high 34 points and 14 rebounds, and Chris Walton made a key basket in the final minute to lead the Aztecs (8-5) past the Pilots (6-6) at San Diego.

Sanders scored 20 of the Aztecs’ 34 points in the first half. Walton’s basket with 53.2 seconds left to broke a 61-61 tie and started a 6-0 run.

Niagara 79, Central Connecticut State 74 -- The game at New Britain, Conn., took almost 20 hours to complete. The final 22:58 was completed Wednesday afternoon after a power outage forced officials to suspend Tuesday night’s game.

Niagara led, 40-33, with 2:58 left in the first half when the power went out. Halftime was only 75 seconds Wednesday.