Youth trumps experience as Gaels bow out
MORAGA — Saint Mary’s five senior starters jumped out early on a young Vanderbilt team but couldn’t make it last.
The Commodores outscored the Gaels the rest of the first half and built an eight- point lead at intermission, never trailing again in its 75- 64 win in the firstround of the NIT on Wednesday at McKeon Pavilion.
The Commodores started three freshmen, one sophomore and one senior.
NIT SECOND ROUND
Rhode Island ( 23- 9) at Stanford ( 20- 13, Sunday 6: 30 p. m. ESPN2
ONLINE EXTRA
View a Saint Mary’s photo gallery at
photos. mercurynews. com.
Garrett Jackson scored 23 points and had nine rebounds for the Gaels ( 2110), who lost their third straight game to finish the season. Brad Waldow had 12 points and 13 rebounds, while Aaron Bright scored 17 points for Saint Mary’s in front of an announced crowd of 1,322.
Jackson led the Gaels in the first half with nine points. Saint Mary’s shot 30.8 percent from the field but went 11 for 11 from the line.
“We had the experience out on the court, but we just weren’t able to get it done,” Waldow said.
Damian Jones scored 21 points, and Riley LaChance added 17 for Vanderbilt.
“That team’s good,” Gaels coach Randy Bennett said of Vanderbilt. “They didn’t do what they needed to do for the course of the year, but they’re playing like an NCAA tournament team right now.”
Vanderbilt will play South Dakota State, an 86- 76 winner over Colorado State.
The Gaels trailed by eight at halftime and by as many as 10 early in the second half. They cut the lead to 5347 with 8: 24 left as Waldow made two free throws, the center’s first points since 6: 30 of the first half.
Vanderbilt took its first lead at 20- 19 with 8: 10 left in the first half when Shelton Mitchell scored on a driving layup.
The game marked the final Gaels appearance for all five of Saint Mary’s starters — Waldow, Kerry Carter, Jackson, Bright and Desmond Simmons. Waldow finishes in the top five alltime in scoring, rebounds, blocked shots, games played and games started.