No. 19 Gonzaga holds on to beat Pepperdine 89-82 behind Battle’s 21 points

Khalif Battle scored 21 points, Braden Huff added 19 points on 9-of-10 shooting and No. 19 Gonzaga beat Pepperdine 89-82 on Monday night in the West Coast Conference opener for both teams. Huff converted a three-point play that gave the Bulldogs the lead for good 7:10 into the first half, and Gonzaga (10-4) led 50-32 at the intermission. Freshman Jaxon Olvera scored a season-high 27 points on 12-of-21 shooting for Pepperdine (6-9).

No. 17 Mississippi State pulls away for 87-73 victory over Bethune-Cookman

Riley Kugel scored 22 points and Josh Hubbard added 16 to lead No. 17 Mississippi State to an 87-73 victory over Bethune-Cookman on Monday night. Mississippi State (12-1) struggled to put away Bethune-Cookman (3-10) until reeling off a 16-4 run midway through the second half. Kugel was 10 of 13 from the floor and had four rebounds before fouling out late.