St. Mary’s, Gonzaga push aside challenges
LAS VEGAS — Alex Ducas set the tone with 18 of his 21 points in the first half, and No. 21 St. Mary's went on to beat Santa Clara 79-65 on Monday night to make the West Coast Conference tournament championship game.
The Gaels (25-7) played No. 17 Gonzaga on Tuesday night in the title game after the Bulldogs reached the title game for the 27th consecutive year by handling USF 89-77.
“I was really proud of the way our guys played,” St. Mary's coach Randy Bennett said. “There's a lot of pressure in that game. It's a tough game to play. These guys came ready to play.”
Ducas made 7 of 11 shots, all 3pointers, and at halftime appeared well on his way to breaking his personal high of 25 points before becoming more of a facilitator in the second half.
“Every time I shoot the ball, I feel like it's going in,” Ducas said. “It's what I bring to the team, to space the floor and shoot the ball. My teammates and my coaches ... give me all the confidence in the world to keep doing it even if I miss a couple.”
The Gaels also had plenty more offensive weapons, with three other players also scoring in double figures that included Mason Forbes with 18 points. Forbes' sister, McKenzie, scored 26 points Sunday to lead No. 5 USC to a 74-61 victory over No. 2
Stanford in the Pac-12 tournament women's championship that also was in Las Vegas.
Forbes wasn't quite ready to claim equal sibling bragging rights.
“We have one more game until I can be in that conversation,” Forbes said. “We knew that was going to be a scrappy game. That was definitely the mindset I had going into the game, to be physical and kind of take the punch
to them.”
Carlos Marshall Jr. led Santa Clara (20-13) with 26 points, and Christian Hammond had 13.
“We faced this team before, and we felt like we were ready to go today,” Marshall said. “They capitalized on our mistakes.”
Mitchell Saxen, the WCC defensive player of the year, picked up his fourth foul with 12:13 left and played only 25 minutes. He finished with nine points and eight rebounds before fouling out with 2:45 left.
St. Mary's had plenty of firepower even without Saxen. The Gaels made nine shots in a row at one point and finished shooting 53.6%.
In the other semifinal, Nolan Hickman scored 20 points as Gonzaga pulled away in the second half to beat USF for the 30th consecutive time.
All five Gonzaga starters scored in double figures. Ben Gregg and Anton Watson each scored 17 points, and Ryan Nembhard had 16.
Gregg was especially hot in the second half. After scoring three points in the first half and missing all three 3-pointers, he made all four from long range after halftime and scored 14 points.
Malik Thomas led USF (23-10) with 22 points, and Marcus Williams scored 17.
“This is not what we signed up for,” Dons coach Chris Gerlufsen said of the loss. “I'm super proud of my team, though, the things they've done for our program this year. They're not even cognizant of that, which is fine. By myself and our staff, just incredibly grateful to be their coach.”
The Zags (25-6) extended their national record of consecutive 25-win seasons to 17.
They have quieted the early talk of what was wrong with a program that has advanced to at least the Sweet 16 of every NCAA Tournament since 2015.
Coach Mark Few said a number of factors led to a rough start in which Gonzaga lost three games in December — a tough Maui Invitational field, incorporating a mix of new players into the lineup and learning to play without Drew Timme.
“I think what was a little bit underrated was how much change,” Few said. “We lost an icon of a player in Drew Timme in more ways than one. Just the swag he had carried us through a lot of moments, so we had to figure out ways not only offensively, but defensively.”