Gaels take bite out of Bulldogs
Landale’s flourish helps Saint Mary’s get upper hand in the WCC race
SPOKANE, WASH. » Anational television audience, a hostile sellout crowd and a chance to unseat a traditional rival on its own floor – it was a scenario that SaintMary’s College knew would be coming when it was unanimously selected as the conference favorite prior to this season.
Hoping to validate that selection, the Gaels did just that as they overcame a cold start to the second half and rallied to stun No. 13 Gonzaga 74-71 in front of an announced crowd of 6,000 at McCarthey Athletic Center on Thursday.
“Composure. Hang in (there),” SMC coach Randy Bennett said of what he told his team when down nine early in the second half. “That’s the way it happens here. People will be around eight or 10 and then all of a sudden (the deficit) goes to 20 right away.”
Bennett added, “You have to have experienced guys and big guys to win here, and our guys handled the atmosphere. It was a heck of a win for us.”
Gonzaga is 188-18 atMcCarthey
Athletic Center since it opened in 2004 and had won 12 of the previous 14 games between the West Coast Conference heavyweights.
But now the Gaels have won two of their past three trips to Spokane.
“It’s a huge win,” said Tanner Krebs, who had 10 points and six rebounds for the Gaels. “It looks good on our resume and puts us on top of the conference.”
The Gaels (18-2 overall, 7- 0 conference) stretched their winning streak to 13 and move a game above the Bulldogs (16- 4, 6-1) in theWest Coast Conference standings.
However, it was a win that was far from certain. Therewere 22 lead changes in the game, 19 of them in the first half.
And the Gaels opened the second half by misfiring on four of their first five shots – not including a pair of missed free throws from standout senior Jock Landale – and quickly found themselves in a nine-point hole.
Needing a spark, Saint Mary’s got it from an obvious source as Landale scored 15 of his 26 points in the final 15 minutes – including the game’s final bucket when he hauled in a pass from Krebs under the rim and went up for a layup with 15 seconds left.
“We focus on being composed for 40minutes of every single game,” Landale said. “I think we were down nine a couple times and we kept saying to each other that the past is the past.
“Let’s focus on the next four minutes and see if we can come out on top.”
Gonzaga coach Mark Few said, “That was two heavyweights going back and forth. Both teamswere having a hard time stopping the other’s offense.
“Hey, we get another shot at them.”
The teams meet again Feb 10 at Saint Mary’s.
Landale added 12 re- bounds to complete his double- double while Calvin Hermanson chipped in with 16 points – 11 of which came in the final 13 minutes.
“I told him at the start of the game to just be aggressive because teams have been making it tough on him to score,” Landale said of Hermanson. “He’s very tough to guard and tonight he did a great job of showing that.”
Gonzaga was paced by Rui Hachimura’s careerbest 23 points.