Gaels Win Ninth Straight WCC Game at San Diego
By Mike Rose
The Gaels finished a perfect two game road trip tonight winning their ninth straight game. The Gaels move to 21-4 overall and are now 9-1 in the WCC. San Diego falls to 13-13 and 6-5 in the WCC.
The Gaels came on strong at the Jenny Craig center in San Diego tonight taking off with an 8-0 early lead. St. Mary’s built the lead to 12-2 at 16:38. At 14:22 the Gaels held the lead 15-6. San Diego turned the tides and went on an 8-1 run and cut the Gael lead to 16-14 at 12:40. Both teams went scoreless for four and a half minutes until Jordan page hit a two, breaking the ice. San Diego continued to battle back and took the lead 21-20 with 7:01 remaining in the half. The Gaels and Toreros traded baskets and with 2:45 left in the half the Gaels held onto a one point lead 29-28. With 31.6 seconds remaining the score was tied 34-34. San Diego took a time out to set up the last play of the half. San Diego couldn’t get the basket and St. Mary’s got the ball back with 3.4 seconds. Bennett took a St. Mary’s time out and St. Mary’s took advantage off a Matthew Dellavedova assist to Brad Waldow for two points. The Gaels went into half time up 36-34.
Statistically the Gaels shot 13-27 (48.1%) from the floor and were 5-14 (35.7%) from behind the arc. Leading the way for the Gaels was Matthew Dellavedova with 11 and four assists. Brad Waldow hit eight going a perfect 3-3 from the floor. The Gaels put up 14 from the paint. The Gaels bench struggled with a total of three off of a Beau Levesque three pointer.
The Toreros went 12-27 (44.4%) from the floor and 5-10 (50.0%) from three point range. Leading scorers for San Diego were Johnny Dee and Chris Manresa both with seven. The Toreros put up 10 from the paint and their bench had eight points. San Diego out-rebounded St. Mary’s 21-15.
At the beginning of the second half the Gaels rallied off of back to back to back threes from Dellavedova, Levesque and Page going on a 9-0 run. This boosted the Gael lead back to their largest lead of the night of 10 with 15:00 left to play. San Diego answered with a 7-0 run all from Johnny Dee cutting the Gael lead to 47-44 with 13:20 left. The Gaels started to pull away and regained a 10 point lead 57-47 with 10:44 to go. The Gaels built their largest lead of the night off a Waldow lay-up bringing the score to 65-52 with 5:19 left. The Gaels continued to dominate the second half and built the lead to 15 with 1:31 to play. The Gaels pulled off their 9th straight win; 74-64.
For the game, the Gaels ended the night 28-57 (49.1%) from the floor and were 12-29 (41.4%) from threes. Dellavedova put up 19 tonight with seven assists. Waldow had 18. Off the bench Levesque had nine. Dark horse, Jordan Giusti put up five. From the paint the Gaels had 30.
San Diego finished with 22-56 (39.3%) from the floor and 7-20 (35%) from beyond the arc. Dee lead the way for the Toreros with 19. Anderson finished with 10. Manresa finished with nine. The Toreros ended the night with 26 from the paint and the bench had 18.
The Gaels return home next Thursday on Valentine’s day to face Gonzaga for a 1st place show down.