McConnell’s strides drive Gaels’ success

In Mickey McConnell's perfect world, history will repeat itself tonight.

A year ago, McConnell and his Saint Mary's teammates celebrated a West Coast Conference basketball tournament championship victory over Gonzaga at Orleans Arena. The possibility of the same outcome tonight was preserved Sunday when both teams won their semifinals.

Top-seeded Saint Mary's defeated No. 4 Santa Clara 73-64, and second-seeded Gonzaga advanced with a 71-67 victory over No. 3 San Francisco. Today's championship game is at 6 p.m. on ESPN.

Saint Mary's (24-7) has kept alive the thrill it got from beating the Bulldogs in the 2010 WCC finale, largely because of 6-foot senior guard McConnell, the conference player of the year.

"Obviously it's a new year and you want to get it back," McConnell said. "But I think about it every day. It's a great motivator."

Winning has motivated McConnell his entire career, and his player of the year award validated his four-year climb from the 10th man on the Gaels' roster.

"I put in my time, did what they asked and worked as hard as I could, even when I wasn't playing a lot," said McConnell, who had 10 points Sunday but averages 16.8 points and 6.1 assists. "I was playing behind some pretty good players, but I always believed in myself that I could be successful."

Saints Mary's coach Randy Bennett, the WCC coach of the year, marveled at the strides McConnell has made.

"It's pretty remarkable," Bennett said. "That he can go from where he was to where he is speaks volumes about his dedication. It's nice when you have players who care as much about winning as the coaches do. That's what makes Mickey so good."

But there was wisdom and talent to go with the work ethic. In McConnell's case, the cliche about a player being another coach on the floor fits, because that's where his basketball roots are and where his future in the game is likely to be.

His father, Rick, coached him at Dobson High School in Mesa, Ariz. Rick McConnell got his 500th career victory this year, and he's chasing the state record of 714 wins held by Mickey's grandfather, Dick.

"I'd like to try to play as long as I can," McConnell said. "But, yeah, I can see myself coaching one day. It kinda runs in the family."

The Gaels broke away from a close game to oust Santa Clara (19-14). The Broncos were led by Marc Trasolini with 22 points, and freshman guard Evan Roquemore from Foothill High School had 12 points and two assists before fouling out in the final minute.

■ Gonzaga 71, San Francisco 67 -- Junior guard Marquise Carter made six straight free throws in the final minute as the second-seeded Bulldogs (23-9) survived a rally by the third-seeded Dons (17-14).

San Francisco trailed by 13 early in the second half but kept Gonzaga in sight thanks to Michael Williams, who scored 21 points.

The Dons got as close as 64-62 with 35 seconds to play and made a steal while trailing 68-65 with 7.7 seconds left. USF's Rashad Green was tied up and called timeout, but the Dons were out of timeouts and assessed a technical foul.

Carter, who scored 18 points, made 1 of 2 technical free throws, and Gonzaga's Demetri Goodson added two free throws after stealing the Dons' inbounds pass with 6.2 seconds left.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or at 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj.