WCC Basketball Fans

St. Mary’s 86, San Francisco 68

If road victories at Gonzaga and Santa Clara weren’t enough to prove that St. Mary’s is the class of this year’s West Coast Conference contingent, Saturday’s St. Mary’s victory over second place San Francisco at War Memorial Gym in San Francisco, California, may have settled the question for good. Head coach Randy Bennett’s Gaels dismissed the upstart Dons, who had a chance to tie the Gaels in the loss column with a victory, during a furious second half run. Leading by only two points at intermission, St. Mary’s dominated the second stanza on the back of star guard Mickey McConnell. McConnell scored nine straight points during a portion of the second half to send the Gaels to their fourth straight victory and 16 of their previous 18m.

San Francisco, who was off to its best WCC start in three decades, knotted the contest up just one minute into the second half on a Perris Blackwell jumper. The Dons would never get past this high water mark. St. Mary’s responded with a 14-0 run, capped by a Clint Steindl three-pointer with just under 15 minutes to play in the second half. Head coach Rex Walters’ San Francisco squad had its upset chances go out the window in a matter of four minutes of game play. Credit goes to the twenty-third ranked Gaels, as the league leaders did not allow the idea of an upset to permeate the minds of the Dons for long.

As it does for most nights, this victory was directed by the do-everything guard, McConnell. On Saturday night he was fantastic once again. McConnell played the entire 40 minutes of action, scoring 19 points and dishing out 8 assists and hitting on 7-of-8 free-throw attempts. Three other Gaels scored in double figures, including Rob Jones, who contributed 18 points. McConnell’s backcourt mate Matthew Dellavedodova filled up the stat sheet as well, scoring 14 points, grabbing 7 rebounds and handing out 4 assists.

San Francisco was led by Rashad Green’s and Michael Williams’s 17-point performances. Marko Petrovic also added 14 points and 4 rebounds off the bench. The Dons were done in by poor shooting, just 40 percent on the evening, and the inability to stop St. Mary’s from going on a big run. San Francisco was just 2-of-13 beyond the arc and had only 3 assists. Having passed yet another major hurdle, the sharpshooting Gaels are continuing to show that, not only are they the class of the WCC, but this group of players just might have another Tourney run in their system.

Zach Bloxham
DFN Sports Staff Writer