SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) -- Zach Gourde was watching from the sideline when No. 25 Gonzaga made its run to the Elite Eight in the NCAA basketball tournament last season.

Friday night, he took center stage.

Gourde came off the bench to score 24 points and grab nine rebounds as Gonzaga (2-0) routed Eastern Washington 81-47.

"I just hope they don't expect that every time," said Gourde, who sat out last season. "It's easy to play well when you've got great players like Richie Frahm and Matt Santangelo around you."

Santangelo, Gonzaga's top player, battled strep throat much of the week, and wasn't cleared to play until Friday afternoon. He scored 13 points in 20 minutes before sitting down when the outcome was decided early.

Eight of Santangelo's points came in a 16-3 run near the end of the first half that carried Gonzaga to a 43-24 lead at halftime. Gonzaga then outscored Eastern Washington 21-6 to open the second half.

"We wanted to make a statement in the second half and generally we did," Santangelo said. "We really shut them down in the second half."

It was Gonzaga's first-ever home game as a ranked team, and Coach Mark Few wanted a good show for the 4,004 fans who packed Martin Centre.

"This is a critical home stretch for us," Few said. "I want us to go out and perform to our expectations."

With road games coming up in the next two weeks at No. 1 Cincinnati, Temple and UCLA, the Bulldogs need to play well at home.

Eastern (0-3) coach Steve Aggers was impressed by his opponents, especially forward Casey Calvary, who blocked five shots and grabbed nine rebounds.

"He manhandled us and was a physical force," Aggers said. "He blocked some shots and intimidated us on others."

Eastern shot 22 percent for the game, making just 15 of 66 shots. Gonzaga had nine blocks.

"We could never made a run and force some turnovers against them," Aggers said.

Eastern Washington hung around for the first 15 minutes of the game. A pair of free throws by EWU's Deon Williams cut Gonzaga's lead to 25-17 with 5:21 left in the first half.

But Gonzaga launched a 16-3 run, capped by a pair of 3-pointers by Santangelo, to take a 41-20 lead with 1:41 left.

Gonzaga led 43-24 at halftime, and scored the first 13 points of the second half for a 56-24 lead.

Will Levy's layup with 15:03 left in the game was Eastern's first basket of the second half. Levy led Eastern with eight points, connecting on just 2 of 13 field goals.

Gonzaga has won 13 straight games over Eastern Washington, based in neighboring Cheney, since EWU's last win in the 1989-90 season.