SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Next stop on the Brandon Clarke Dunk ‘n Swat Festival: The Sweet 16.

The Gonzaga forward had five monster dunks, five blocks, matched a career-high with 36 points and enjoyed the overall kind of night that earns potential NBAers millions, while leading the top-seeded Bulldogs to an 83-71 rejection of Baylor on Saturday.

“Is ‘Wow’ the word you say?” teammate Josh Perkins said. “Dunking the ball, blocking shots. He just plays the right way.”

Because of it, Gonzaga (32-3) is into the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the fifth straight time, the longest current streak in the country.

This second-round matchup in the West Region wasn’t exactly a blowout, but wasn’t quite a nail-biter, either. That doesn’t mean it lacked entertainment.

Ninth-seeded Baylor (20-14) scored the first 10 points of the second half to draw within six, and keep the game in range.

WOMEN
Baylor 95, Abilene Christian 38

WACO (AP) — Kalani Brown and her Baylor teammates got to be silly and goofy when their first-round women’s NCAA Tournament game was over. They had a different kind of fun on the court.

“I just thought we were having fun today doing what we do best, getting out in transition,” Brown said. “We were hitting on all cylinders. Keep playing like that, hey, you never know.”

Brown had 17 points and 11 rebounds while playing only 18 minutes and top-seeded Baylor overwhelmed women’s NCAA Tournament first-timer Abilene Christian 95-38 on Saturday night.

Brown, a 6-foot-7 senior center, had 10 of her points as Baylor (32-1) scored the game’s first 20 points.

Lauren Cox, Baylor’s 6-4 post, had 14 points in 17 minutes and was on the bench with Brown and other starters in different chunks of the game and throughout the fourth quarter. Juicy Landrum, another starter, had 14 points with three 3-pointers in 19 minutes as coach Kim Mulkey freely substituted during the game.

The Wildcats (23-10), the Southland Conference Tournament champions and in only their second season of Division I eligibility, missed their first 12 shots before Breanna Wright made a 3-pointer with 2:47 left in the first quarter. They then missed 13 more shots before Wright made another 3 midway through the second quarter to make it 35-6.

Texas A&M 84, Wright State 61 (Fri.)

COLLEGE STATION — Any concerns about how Texas A&M’s star point guard Chennedy Carter would perform in her return from injury were quickly put to rest on Friday.

Carter scored 27 points in her first game since surgery to repair two breaks in her right pinky finger, with 14 coming in Texas A&M’s huge first quarter, to help the No. 4 Aggies cruise to an 84-61 win over No. 13 Wright State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

“I guess the saga of pinky-gate is over,” Texas A&M coach Gary Blair said with a laugh. “I thought Carter played extremely well.”

Texas A&M, which is in the tournament for the 14th consecutive season, advances to the second round for the fourth straight year where it will play five-seed Marquette on Sunday.

The Aggies (25-7) led by 18 early after scoring 31 points in the first quarter. The game was tied at 5-all in the first before Texas A&M used a 17-3 run to take a 22-8 lead, and it was never close again.

“I don’t think we could have started the game any better,” Blair said.

Wright State (27-7) was led by Angel Baker’s 25 points. The Raiders won the Horizon League tournament to advance to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in school history and the first since 2014, when they lost to Kentucky 106-60.