PROVO — No. 1 Gonzaga faced a sold-out Marriott Center on Thursday night in its first game of the season as the top-ranked program in college basketball.

It didn't scare the bulldogs one bit.

Nigel Williams-Goss scored 24 of his game-high 33 points, and Josh Perkins and Johnathan Williams added 11 points each to help No. 1 Gonzaga to a 85-75 win over BYU in its first game since ascending to the top spot in both the Associated Press and USA Today/Coaches’ polls.

“Williams-Goss just controlled that game,” BYU coach Dave Rose said. “He had a pace and a confidence to him to where every time we’d make a run, he had a pretty good answer.”

Williams-Goss finished just three points off his career high, a 36-point outing Jan. 5 in a win over San Francisco. He played a game-high 40 minutes and had seven rebounds, four assists and three steals.

“He’s tough,” BYU leading scorer TJ Haws said of Williams-Goss. “He made big plays tonight, and he’s a tough guy to guard.”

Haws led BYU (16-8, 7-4 West Coast Conference) with 29 points, and Eric Mika supplied 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Cougars. Elijah Bryant had 12 points and a season-high five assists in his first start since joining BYU from Elon two years ago, and freshman Yoeli Childs finished with 11 points and eight rebounds.

“I’m proud of our team for fighting and contributing to grind,” Haws said. “I thought we played hard tonight.”

Perkins matched his season average with nine points in the first half as the Zags (23-0, 11-0 WCC) took a 42-26 lead into the break.

The Cougars opened the second half on an 11-3 run, holding the nation’s best scoreless from the field while pulling within 45-37 on Mika’s free throws, just under four minutes after the break.

“I think Coach all week instilled in us an ability to compete, no matter what the score was,” Bryant said. “When we got to the game, it was just natural to compete like we did in practice.”

Still, every time BYU made a run, the Zags had an answer.

Gonzaga quickly pulled back to double-digits on two scores by 300-pound center Przemek Karnowski and Williams-Goss.

Even with Przemek Karnowski on the bench with foul trouble, Gonzaga had answers. Bryant drew the 7-footer’s third foul on a drive to the rim with 15:08 left, and his and-1 play pulled BYU within nine, 49-40.

Then Williams-Goss took over. The former Washington guard scored 11 points in the first seven minutes of the second half to push the Zags’ lead to 56-40 with 13:18 remaining.

“The combination of the depth of their guard line and the size and strength of their front line really caused us problems on both ends,” Rose said. “It’s a good team, a really good team. I think our guys competed hard, played hard, but our execution needs to be way better if we are going to beat a team like that.”

BYU refused to go away, though, cutting it as close as 70-62 on Bryant’s drive with 4:49 left in the game.

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Here are three thoughts on a game that finished right on the Las Vegas money line of a 10-point loss by BYU.

Bryant’s first start

Elijah Bryant started his first game of the season (and his BYU career) against the first-ever top-ranked team to visit BYU in Marriott Center history. The former Elon product sat out all of last season, per NCAA transfer regulations, and missed part of the season with lingering injuries.

“Each game I come into with the same mentality: just be ready to play, whether that is starting or coming off the bench,” Bryant said.

Bryant was scoreless until Emery checked into the game in place of Yoeli Childs, as the Cougars moved to a four-guard lineup.

The home team found limited success, pulling within a point on Bryant’s 3-pointer with 14:54 left. But the Zags are rated No. 1 in the nation for a reason, and the Cougars couldn’t keep up.

Emery missed Wednesday’s practice with flu-like symptoms but came off the bench for two points, two rebounds, a steal and an assist, as well as a defensive boost in his 20 minutes.

“Nick’s not feeling well,” Haws said. “But that kid is a warrior; he’ll fight through anything. He comes out tough every day in practice and every game.

“He’s not doing that well, but I’m proud of him for how he fought tonight.”

First sellout of the season

The Marriott Center shelled out for the first-ever top-ranked visit in the site’s history with 18,987 fans in attendance for the 9 p.m. MT tipoff that was broadcast on ESPN2.

“That was a super fun game,” Haws said. “I couldn’t help but smile when I heard the crowd get that loud. I thought the energy was great tonight, and I thought our team showed spurts of greatness … It was a fun atmosphere, but it’s a bummer to lose.”

The game was the first sellout of the 2016-17 season for BYU, and the first since Gonzaga’s last trip to Provo, last year’s regular-season finale on Feb. 27, 2016.

“It was great. It was awesome,” Rose said. “You could tell from the minute we walked out there that the crowd was ready to cheer for this team.

“It just didn’t go our way.”

Przemek grounded

Karnowski played just 23 minutes while picking up foul trouble, and finished with just nine points, eight rebounds and five turnovers.

Mika served as the primary defender on the 7-foot, 300-pound big man, but Corbin Kaufusi, Childs and even Bryant factored into slowing down one of the top post players in college basketball.

“Give credit to our bigs. But anyone who is a really good basketball player, it takes a team effort to guard,” Haws said. “Elijah did a really good job helping on him, and we helped off him. It was a great effort tonight.”

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