Composed Gaels turn back Rams
SALT LAKE CITY — There was no pep talk, no fiery speech.
“Nothing, really,” St. Mary’s coach Randy Bennett said when asked what he said when his team’s second-half lead was cut from 16 points to two on Thursday. Just a coach and a composed group of players nodding at each other.
And a point guard with four fouls getting sent back into the game.
Center Jock Landale gets all the hype, but it was Joe Rahon whom St. Mary’s couldn’t do without against VCU in an NCAA Tourament West Region first-round game. The Gaels pulled away to beat the Rams 85-77 behind Rahon’s 16 points and steady hand, after they survived a 13-2 run that started when he was sent to the bench.
Bennett “threw me back in there,” said Rahon, who reentered the game with 11:14 remaining. “He trusted me. And as a player that’s the greatest compliment you can have from your coach — they have faith in you to go out there and play smart and play the right way and get it done.”
That the Gaels did. Landale finished with 18 points and 13
rebounds, and forward Calvin Hermanson scored eight straight St. Mary’s points to put the Gaels up 73-63 with four minutes left. St. Mary’s (29-4), the seventh seed, will face No. 2 seed Arizona — which beat North Dakota in the late game — in the second round in Salt Lake City on Saturday night.
Rahon and guard Emmett Naar were able to handle VCU’s defensive pressure and the pressure the Gaels faced when their big lead was suddenly down to two points.
“I rolled the dice, and Joe is a really smart player,” said Bennett, who took Rahon off VCU’s JeQuan Lewis when he put him back in. “He and Emmett did a pretty good job controlling the game. … (VCU is) good. That pressure is hard to play against.”
Lewis led No. 10 seed VCU (26-9) with 30 points. The Rams never quit but were too small, as the Gaels shot 56 percent, outrebounded the Rams 37-29 and went to the free-throw line 39 times, making 29.
“Jock was huge on the boards,” Bennett said. “They’re very good. If they can tip it loose, if they can get a tip-out, they’re so quick to the ball, they get those. We knew that going in. Jock is a good rebounder himself and he’s able to get those clean in a crowd, and that took care of that.”
St. Mary’s was taking care of business until Rahon picked up two fouls early in the second half. The second, a charge, gave him four in the game and Bennett had to sit the senior with 15:01 left and the Gaels up 54-41.
VCU turned up the defensive pressure and St. Mary’s wilted a little bit. There was a 10-second violation, a steal and a shot swatted over press row. Just like that, the Rams cut the Gaels’ lead to 56-54 halfway through the second half.
But with Rahon back in, the Gaels exhaled, especially when the fifth-year senior buried a three as the shot clock expired to make it 63-56 with 8:17 left.
“They’re as good as I’ve seen stringing out ball screens and playing off ball screens,” VCU coach Will Wade said. “We couldn’t get the fifth foul on (Rahon). If we could have gotten him out of the game, it would have been a totally different ballgame.”
Earlier, the Gaels used a 19-4 run in the first half to take control of the game. The Rams didn’t have an answer for 6foot-11 Landale down low — he was 5-of-5 from the field in the first half — and when VCU sagged on him, St. Mary’s hit three-pointers or Rahon created for himself.
Hermanson (16 points) hit back-to-back threes early in that 19-4 run.
“They do a good job of playing their pace, and they move the ball precisely on offense,” the Rams’ Lewis said. “They use the whole shot clock. They’ll pass up a good shot for a great shot.”
And now the Gaels have a shot at making the Sweet 16.