Saint. Mary’s Gaels Fall Hard To BYU Cougars

After a solid 69-57 win against San Diego on Thursday the Saint Mary’s Gaels remained home Saturday afternoon facing BYU at a sold out McKeon Pavilion.  BYU leads St. Mary’s 9-6 in their series and toppled the Gaels 84-71 in their last meeting on Feb. 1.  The home court advantage would not prove magic Saturday night as the Gaels suffer a very tough loss, falling 60-57.

On a positive, this afternoon marked a historic event for Matthew Dellavedova of the Cleveland Cavaliers. He joins Tom Meschery (No. 31) as the second men’s basketball player to have his jersey retired as Dellavedova’s No. 4 was raised to the rafters.

Brad Waldow opened the night for the Gaels with an easy lay-up tying the score 2-2 at 18:35 in the first half. This was the start of a 6-0 Waldow run which brought the Gaels up 6-2. Kerry Carter was fouled and went 1-for-2 bringing the Gaels lead 7-2.  By the first media time out at 15:40 the Gaels had the lead 9-4.

Midway through the half BYU had put up just seven points as the Gaels defense put the stop on BYU.

With 9:24 to go Stephen Holt lit up the court with a long 3, bringing the Gael lead to 19-9.  This forced a BYU timeout.

Late in the half BYU came alive and had an 8-0 run closing the Gael lead to 25-19 with 5:20 to play.

The Gaels stayed tough and maintained the lead 32-23 with 3:07 left in the half.

The Gaels finished the half with a solid lead 35-25.

For the first half the Gaels went 14-for-27 (51.9 percent) from the floor and were just 2-for-10 (20.0 percent) from behind the arc.  Brad Waldow had 11 first-half points.

The Cougars went 12-for-27 (44.4 percent) from the floor and were dismal from 3, going 0-for-5.  No BYU player hit double digits.

In the second half the Gaels came out of the locker room playing intense. With 15:39 to play they led 41-32. Then, the BYU zone defense stepped it up as the Gaels struggled on offense. With 15:01 to go in the game, the Cougars once again cut into the Gael lead and were down 41-34.

With 12:52 remaining, the Gael lead was all but gone as they held on 44-40.  By the media timeout at 10:33, the Gaels held on up 46-41. At this point, they had been outscored 16-11 in the second half.

Late in the second half the Gaels still had a tough time with the BYU zone defense and with 3:44 to play the game was tied 53-53.

With 2:40 to play, for the first time since 18:59 in the first half, the Gaels trailed 55-53. A Brad Waldow layup at 1:26 tied the game at 55-55.

With 25.7 seconds left, down 56-55, the Gaels had the ball and a chance to win the game. The Gaels lost the ball and suffered a tough and agonizing loss.

The Gaels finished the night 22-for-53 (41.5 percent) from the floor (they were just 31 percent in the second half). The finished just 4-for-19 (21.1 percent) from 3. Waldow led the way with 17 points.

For the Cougars, they went 24-for-48 (50 percent) from the floor. They were 1-for-8 (12.5 percent) from 3-point land. Leading the way was Tyler Haws, who had 18 points.

The Gaels head across the bay and next face longtime rival USF Thursday night. Tip off time is 8 p.m. Pacific.