Courtesy: Tod Fierner Mitchell Young drives to the basket against USF's Rashad Green in the second half.
Moraga, CA - Saint Mary's men's basketball trumped the San Francisco Dons 73-57 at McKeon Pavilion, for their eight West Coast Conference win, and sixth straight, on Saturday. Saint Mary's improved to 8-1 in WCC play, and hold a half game lead over Gonzaga heading into Thursday's match up.
Omar Samhan notched his 37th career double-double, as led the Gaels (21-3/8-1 WCC) with 24 points and 10 rebounds. He also had seven blocks against the Dons, bringing his career total to 230, just nine blocked shots behind SMC career record holder Diamon Simpson (239).
Matthew Dellavedova played a solid all-around game, scoring 11 points, dished out seven assists, and pulled down six rebounds. During the nine WCC games, Dellavedova is averaging conference-high 6.8 assists.
Also scoring in double figures for the Gaels was Clint Steindl with 12 points and Ben Allen with 10 points. Both Steindl and Allen had seven rebounds each. McConnell added 10 points as all five starters for Saint Mary scored in double figures. McConnell finished with a game-high four steals to go along with two assists and two made 3-pointers.
The only player for San Francisco to score in double figures was Dior Lowborn, who had a game-high 25 points.
Samhan opened the game for the Gaels with a spin move to the baseline. Setting up in his hot spot on the left baseline, Steindl sunk his second 3-pointer at 17:57 and Saint Mary's lead 10-6.
The Gaels swung the ball from the corner to Allen at the top, opening up the middle for a lob into Samhan. Continuing to shoot well from the 3-point line, Saint Mary's finished the first half 5-10 and went to the locker room with a 41-26 advantage.
At 14:03 in the second half, Dellavedova pulled down a rebound and threw a quick pass to Steindl for a reverse dunk (50-38). Despite San Francisco's full-court pressure, they we're unable to close the gap, and Saint Mary's held onto their first half lead to defeat the Dons by 16 points.
Saint Mary's will play nationally ranked Gonzaga in Spokane, WA Thursday Feb. 11, at 8:00 PM. The game for first place in the WCC will be televised on ESPN2.
Courtesy: Tod Fierner
