SPOKANE — Kevin Pangos was coming off a game in which he scored only five points. In fact, he hadn’t scored more than 12 in a month.
Good thing for Gonzaga that Pangos showed up Friday night.
Pangos made seven 3-pointers and scored 31 points to lead the No. 13 Bulldogs past Baylor 94-87. Pangos, who came in averaging 10 points and making 36 percent of his 3-point attempts, went 10 for 13 and finished two points shy of his career high.
“He’s fine,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “I never was worried about him. As long as he just keeps shooting. He puts way too much time in the gym. He makes way too many in practice to worry about it. You got a guy that works that hard at it, I don’t think he was worried, or the staff was worried. It was due time for them to start going in.”
Kelly Olynyk added 21 points, Elias Harris had 17 and Gary Bell Jr. added 12 for the Bulldogs (12-1), who shot 52 percent from the field (31 of 59).
“Obviously he was great,” Few added. “He really helped stem a lot of their rallies. I thought we did a nice job all night of being able to withstand their rallies. We’d build up a lead and they’d come fighting back. It seems like it happened six or seven times.”
Pierre Jackson led Baylor (8-4) with 26 points, Isaiah Austin had 20 and Cory Jefferson added 13. The Bears also shot 52 percent, but attempted 21 fewer free throws than Gonzaga.
Gonzaga didn’t hold a lead until 4:53 remained in the first half but never trailed after halftime, leading by as many as 12.
“It was so fun,” Pangos said. “High scoring. When you’re a basketball player, you love that. You love defense, too, but you love a high-scoring game. It was nice. They never let us relax. Every time we got a double-digit lead, they came back and made some big plays.”
The Bulldogs drew two quick fouls on Austin — a 7-foot-1, 220-pound freshman — after halftime and he went to the bench with three fouls. Harris’ bucket and free throw gave Gonzaga a 47-38 lead.
“That’s one thing that we have, a young front line,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said. “Their veteran guys did a good job of getting some good position and also picking up some fouls on them.”
Baylor made its first three 3-point attempts of the second half, two by Jackson, to cut the deficit to 49-44. Jackson came in as the Big 12’s scoring leader, averaging 19.0 points and 6.3 assists.
Pangos’ second 3-pointer of the second half extended Gonzaga’s lead to 62-50 with 12:12 left. Pangos and Olynyk combined to score 15 straight Gonzaga points over a five-minute span.
“He (Olynyk) was very patient,” Few said. “He took what they gave him. He didn’t rush. He’s maturing like we’ve talked about all year. He played very well tonight.”
Olynyk was 9 for 12 from the field and helped Gonzaga shoot 65 percent in the second half.
Austin showed off his versatile skills for Baylor, making shots from inside the paint, outside the 3-point line and mid-range jumpers. Jackson and Austin made back-to-back 3-pointers and Baylor stayed within reach at 62-56.
