Saint Mary’s reaches summit

Randy Bennett brought his climbing shoes to Las Vegas on Monday.

The Saint Mary's coach thought they might come in handy, and he put them to good use, scaling the ladder at the Orleans Arena to cut down the last strand of net after the Gaels won the West Coast Conference championship 81-62 over 18th-ranked Gonzaga.

"It took us nine years to get this done," said Bennett, in his ninth season leading Saint Mary's. "We've been in the championship game four times, and this group was finally able to knock the door down."

Senior center Omar Samhan, the Gaels' inspirational leader, said: "I wanted to win this game more than anything in my life. This game defined my career at Saint Mary's."

Saint Mary's (26-5), which found itself on the outside looking in a year ago when NCAA Tournament bids were handed out, didn't leave it to the selection committee this time. The Gaels played well from the opening tip and finished strong, beating Gonzaga for the first time in 10 WCC tournament meetings to earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAAs.

"We knew the only way to be sure was to come out and win this thing," said Gaels junior guard Mickey McConnell, who matched his career high with 26 points and was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.

Gonzaga (26-6), which was the top seed and was playing in its 13th straight WCC tournament title game, appeared to be out of sync. The Bulldogs struggled to find a rhythm and didn't get things going until late in the first half.

"We knew we were in for a tough game," Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. "They were hungry and played with desperation. We didn't do a good job of competing with them."

Saint Mary's, which was the second seed, led 30-29 at halftime despite Samhan being held scoreless. But with McConnell and Ben Allen hitting from the perimeter, the Gaels stayed in front.

But Samhan, the WCC's leading scorer during the regular season, finally hit his stride. He scored nine second-half points and had six blocked shots along with seven rebounds.

"I was pretty sure I wasn't not going to score the entire game," Samhan said. "But we had other guys picking me up, and that's what makes this team so great. It's not one guy. It's everyone."

Gonzaga was within range, down 50-47 with 9:11 to play. But the Zags couldn't take control. Allen, who finished with a career-high 20 points, and Jorden Page, who ended up with 11, helped lead Saint Mary's on a 27-11 run over the next 6½ minutes to break open the game and put the despair of last year behind once and for all as the SMC fans among the crowd of 7,726 celebrated.

"It feels good to beat the best team," said Bennett, whose team lost to Gonzaga twice in the regular season. "It makes a little more special."

WOMEN

■ Gonzaga 76, Pepperdine 48 -- The top-seeded and 17th-ranked Bulldogs pulled away in the second half to claim their second consecutive WCC tournament title and earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Gonzaga (26-4) rode a 26-8 run to open the second half, building a 60-34 lead with 10:23 remaining. Pepperdine (20-10) trailed by as many as 31 points late and shot just 25 percent from the floor for the game.

Gonzaga guard Courtney Vandersloot, the tournament's Most Valuable Player, led all scorers with 19 points.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913.