St. Mary’s Win Shocker In OT Against San Diego
By Mike Rose
It was a wild night for St. Mary’s in Las Vegas as they faced San Diego in the semi-finals of the WCC tournament. Sloppy play, a lost tooth from Brad Waldow, and an overall struggle didn’t stop the Gaels from pulling out a thriller in an overtime victory.
The Gaels came out cold in the first half. They seemed to be a step behind the fully charged Toreros. With 11:08 to play in the first half they had fallen down by 14; 20-6. The Gaels made a run and outscored the Toreros 17-4 bringing them within one point 24-23 with 2:05 in the half. After trailing the entire half, the Gaels went to the locker room down 29-26.
Statistically, it was not a good 1st half effort for St. Mary’s. They went 12-34 (35.3%) from the floor and 2-8 (28.6%) from three point land. St. Mary’s put up 16 points from the paint, their bench had 10.
San Diego went 12-24 (50.0%) from the Floor and 4-7 (57.1%) from three point land. They were able to put up 14 points from the paint. Their bench had four.
In the second half, the Gaels again started off struggling on offense. The Gaels fell back down by 10, 45-35 with 11:21 to play. The Gaels took their first lead of the game with 5:42 to play 51-50. The lead changed back and forth and with 10 seconds left in the game San Diego was up by three, 62-59. Matthew Dellavedova nailed home his first three of the night to tie the game and send San Diego to overtime.
In overtime, the Gaels were finally able to hold onto a lead and edged by San Diego 69-66.
Statistically for the game, the Gaels struggled all night. They were 25-67 (37.3%) from the floor. From behind the arc, they went 4-17 (23.5%) Leading the way for the Gaels was Brad Waldow. Waldow had 23 going 9-23 from the floor. Beau Levesque, off the bench, also had a solid night scoring 19 with 34 minutes of play time. Mitchell Young had 12. Jordan Giusti, also off the bench played solid defense and managed five points. The Gaels put up a total of 36 from the paint. The bench ended with 24.
For the Toreros, statistically, they out- performed the Gaels. They went 25-56 (44.6%) from the floor. From behind the arc, they went 7-18 (38.9%) Better statistics couldn’t bring home a win for San Diego. Leading the way for the Toreros was, Johnny Dee with 18. Christopher Anderson was their only other player in double digits with 11. The Toreros finished the night with 30 points from the paint and 15 points from their bench.
The Gaels move on to face the number one ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs Monday night at 6pm. Last year the Gaels were able to beat Gonzaga and take the crown for the WCC’s. Look for an exciting game as the Gaels look to hold on to their WCC title. The Game can be seen on espn. As always you can listen to the game at smcgaels.com