ST. MARY’S 77, GEORGIA 65 Gaels advance to NIT quarterfinals

Before the season started, head coach Randy Bennett said Sunday night, if somebody had told him his St. Mary’s Gaels would win 20 games, “I would have said that’s a good year.”

Surprise: The Gaels have won a school- record 29, and they’re headed to the NIT quarterfinals at top- seeded Valparaiso on Tuesday.

It’s too bad the St. Mary’s students are on their spring break; most of them missed a 77- 65 win over Georgia on Sunday night at McKeon Pavilion.

The Gaels ( 29- 5) shot 50 percent, the 21st time they have made at least half their shots. That figure had been reached only three times previously against the defensively tough Bulldogs, twice by Kentucky.

“We’re not quite as athletic as the teams they’re used to facing” in the SEC, guard Emmett Naar said, “but we feel like we can shoot well and move it well to where we get open shots. That’s usually why we can shoot a high percentage.”

Naar did his part by scoring a game- high 15 points and handing out a school postseasonrecord 11 assists. In the Gaels’ usual balanced attack, Joe Rahon and Evan Fitzner had 13 points each, and Dane Pineau added 12 points and 11 rebounds. Stefan Gonzalez came off the bench to nail three threes in the first half.

Point guard J. J. Frazier and Yante Maten, the key men for the Bulldogs ( 20- 14), combined for 11- for- 37 shooting. Frazier scored 13 points, but it took him 15 shots to do it. Maten had 12 points on 22 shots, after scorching Belmont for 33 points in the previous game.

“Those two were the point of emphasis,” Bennett said. “Maten missed some shots he probably normally hits.”

Going into the game, Bennett said he wasn’t worried by Georgia’s field- goal- percentage defense of 38.4, seventh best in the country. Of course, it helps that he has the best shooting team in the country, at 50.9.

“I thought we were going to get good shots,” he said. “I thought we could score on these guys. I told our guys, ‘ If we hold them to 40 percent, we’ll win.’ ”

Georgia shot 38 percent. The Gaels also had a 41- 35 rebounding advantage.

It’s just the second time St. Mary’s has reached the quarterfinals in five NIT appearances. The Gaels did it in 2009 when the Patty Mills- led team lost to San Diego State in the quarterfinals after beating Klay Thompson’s Washington State team and Stephen Curry’s Davidson team in the first two rounds.

“It doesn’t get much better than this, other than still be playing in the NCAA Tournament,” Bennett said. “We’re in the round of eight. There are 24 teams left playing ( in the NCAA and NIT), and we’re one of them.”

Speaking of the Big Dance, getting snubbed is still a big deal for the Gaels. “We feel like we should have gotten in the tournament,” Fitzner said. “We’re trying to prove we deserved to be there.”

The winner of the St. Mary’sValpo game will go to the NIT semifinals at New York’s Madison Square Garden on March 29.