Gonzaga 69, Tulsa 60

<br>SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) _ Blake Stepp and Cory Violette each scored 15 points and Gonzaga staged a second-half comeback to score a 69-60 win over Tulsa in a nonconference game on Saturday night. <br><br>Stepp

Monday, February 24th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) _ Blake Stepp and Cory Violette each scored 15 points and Gonzaga staged a second-half comeback to score a 69-60 win over Tulsa in a nonconference game on Saturday night.

Stepp made a 3-pointer and followed it up with a three-point play during a 30-second span midway through the second half, lifting the West Coast Conference Bulldogs into the lead for the first time at 53-51.

Violette scored six of his points in the final six minutes to hold off the Western Athletic Conference's Golden Hurricane. Violette also pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds.

Gonzaga (20-7 overall, 10-2 in the WCC) shot under 30 percent from the floor in the first half as Tulsa opened leads of as many as 11 points. The Bulldogs shot 53.3 percent (16-for-30) from the field in the second half.

Jason Parker led all scorers with 24 points to lead Tulsa (15-9, 9-7 om the WAC), while Ronny Turiaf added 14 points for Gonzaga, playing for the first time since having its 21-game home WCC winning streak halted by University of Portland Wednesday night.