Gonzaga surges past UCLA, advances to Elite Eight

PrzemekKarnowski327GettyUs

A late scoring burst made it seem closer than it was, but No. 2 seed Gonzaga ran away from 11th-seeded UCLA in the South Region semi-final Friday night en route to a 74-62 victory.

Przemek Karnowski finished with 18 points and nine rebounds for Gonzaga.

"Our bigs have been delivering all year," Gonzaga coach Mark Few told CBS reporters following the game. "We just got back establishing where we are at our best. How good was Przemek (Karnowski) there at the start of the half?"

After trailing 35-28 at halftime, UCLA managed to cut Gonzaga's lead to 35-34 with just over 18 minutes left in the second half. Gonzaga would respond with an 18-4 run to stretch the lead to 16 with eight minutes remaining. The win puts Gonzaga one game away from its first-ever Final Four appearance.

"The greatest thing it means is that we get to hang out again for another two more days together," Few said. "As close as this team is that is the absolute strongest motivational factor. Obviously we have a great team and we want to keep playing."

Gonzaga will play the winner of Duke and Utah Sunday in Houston. 

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