Gaels plod past Pilots into semis

LAS VEGAS — Well, consider this a warm-up.

St. Mary’s didn’t play well enough Saturday to beat topseeded Gonzaga, and the Gaels’ performance might not have been good enough to even knock off third-seeded BYU.

But the Gaels were more than solid enough to plod out an 81-58 victory over 10th-seeded Portland in the nightcap WCC quarterfinal game at Orleans Arena.

St. Mary’s (27-3) advances to play BYU (22-10) in the semifinals at 8:30 p.m. Monday. The Gaels won both regular-season meetings with the Cougars, with an average margin of victory of 13 points.

St. Mary’s had won 11 of its past 12 games, losing only a 74-64 home game against Gonzaga, and had a relatively easy time fending off the Pilots (1122), who had lost 16 of their past 17 games before shocking San Diego in Friday’s quarterfinals.

The Gaels led for the game’s final 33 minutes and were ahead by as many as 20 points. They were led by junior forward Calvin Hermanson, who had 21 points on 5-of-10 threepoint shooting, and junior center Jock Landale, who had his 14th double-double (19 points, 12 rebounds).

Senior forward Dane Pineau added 11 points and six rebounds, and junior guard Emmett Naar had 11 assists to move four ahead of Kamran Sufi (507) for second on the school’s alltime list.

St. Mary’s actually shot better from three-point range (40.7 percent) than Portland did from the floor (38.2 percent). The Gaels also won the rebounding contest by 15, but that’s not to say it was an easy night.

Sophomore guard Jazz Johnson had 26 points and had Portland believing for a while that it could pull off another upset.

St. Mary’s took its first lead on a three-pointer by Hermanson, who made it 12-10 at the 13:12 mark. His three-pointer was part of an 11-0 run, during which Portland missed seven straight shots and the Gaels extended their advantage to 18-10.

St. Mary’s was shooting better from three-point range than the Pilots were from the floor for a portion of the first half and built a 27-15 lead on a Hermanson layup with 4:15 remaining. But Portland scored the half ’s final six points to trim the deficit to 32-27.

Landale scored the first six points of a 9-2 run to open the second half, giving the Gaels a 41-29 lead. Portland then trimmed its deficit to 10 points five times in four minutes, but the Pilots couldn’t make it a single-digit game until Rashad Jackson made a pair of free throws for 49-41 with 11:09 on the clock.

Portland got as close as 49-43 with 10 minutes to play. Then the Gaels reeled off a 12-0 run. BYU 89, Loyola Marymount 81: After the Lions (15-15) trimmed a 13-point deficit to 69-67 midway through the second half, the Cougars (22-10) scored six straight and staved off the comeback effort in the quarterfinal game.