St. Mary's to the Sweet 16

[SF Kid]

WOW...

No. 2 seed Villanova falls to St. Mary's as Samhan scores 32

St. Mary's Upsets Villanova, 75-68

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Omar Samhan was an unstoppable Gael force. The only time the Saint Mary's star slowed down was to enjoy the moment.

"Did it really happen?" he shouted outside the locker room. "We won? For real?"

For real, Omar.

Samhan's ascension into national prominence is blasting off -- and so is Saint Mary's run in the NCAA tournament as the Gaels are improbably headed to the round of 16.

Samhan played the game of his career on basketball's biggest stage, finishing with 32 points and seven rebounds to lead 10th-seeded Saint Mary's past Villanova 75-68 on Saturday and on to Houston for the South Regional's Sweet 16.

"Number One. Best win ever. Quote it," Samhan said. "Omar Samhan said, 'Best win ever.' It was."

Fitting for a team stocked with Australians, Saint Mary's (28-5) went way, way long for it winning shot.

Mickey McConnell, stopped and fired a 25-footer that followed the path of the Gateway Arch and banked high off the glass and in to give Saint Mary's a 68-65 lead with 1:15 left.

"I got a little separation so I had an open look," a smiling McConnell said. "So I just let it go and luckily the backboard was there."

Samhan used a two-handed stuff to turn back Reggie Redding and McConnell made both ends of a 1-and-1 to make it 70-65 and turn most of a packed crowd into the country's biggest collection of Saint Mary's fans.
Fast Facts

• Saint Mary's is 2-0 in the NCAA tournament. Prior to this season, the Gaels hadn't won a tournament game since 1959.

• Omar Samhan scored 32 points, going 13 for 16 from the field for the Gaels.

• Scottie Reynolds was 2 for 11 from the field and was 4 for 26 in the tournament for Villanova.

• Saint Mary's is the first team from the West Coast Conference besides Gonzaga to reach the Sweet Sixteen since Loyola Marymount in 1990.

The Gaels, from Moraga, Calif., north of Oakland, will play Old Dominion or Baylor on Thursday.

"Nobody expected us to be in this situation when we started the year," coach Randy Bennett said. "Maybe the guys did, but I think even they would admit we were a little unsure."

The Wildcats (25-8) made an early exit a year after they played in the Final Four. They started 20-1 and collapsed at the end.

Scottie Reynolds, who put Villanova in the Final Four last season with a last-second basket against Pittsburgh, was a big reason why the Wildcats are heading home early. He missed 9 of 11 shots and scored eight points after a dud game in the tournament opener. He missed 13 of 15 against Robert Morris for a forgettable end to an otherwise stellar career.

Tears streamed from Reynolds' eyes, his lips trembled as he tried to put the loss and his career in perspective.

"There's no shame in losing," Reynolds said. "We came up against a great opponent in a Saint Mary's team who just had our number. We're going to hold our heads up high."

It was Saint Mary's time to go crazy.

Samhan mugged for the fans and tossed a loose ball in the air. He high-fived a ball boy and they embraced for the biggest win in the program's history.

The players kept goofing off in the news conference, whispering to each other while the other was talking. At one point, when McConnell was saying they worked as hard as anyone else, Samhan kept interrupting him, saying, "More. Say, 'More.'" Bennett finally shushed him to stop.

Samhan, a 6-foot-11, 260-pound center, played perhaps the best all-around game of anyone in the tournament so far. His 32 points where one shy of his career high and he made 13 of 16 shots.

"Omar's a beast," Saint Mary's forward Clint Steindl said.

He frustrated the Wildcats until late in the second half.

That's when the Wildcats started doing what they do best -- run and score on the fastbreak. They rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit with their transition game to tie the score at 51 on Maalik Wayns' perfect pass through the defense to Antonio Pena for a layup. Pena made a free throw for the tie, and Corey Fisher followed with a basket the next time down for a 53-51 Villanova lead.

Neither team gave much the rest of the way.

Saint Mary's had taken a three-point lead when -- bam! -- the slumping Reynolds nailed his first 3-pointer of the game.

Matthew Dellavedova made an acrobatic play as he dribbled, tripped, retained his dribble, spun around Fisher and hit a 3. Wayns -- the Philly freshman seemingly built with a turbo-charged engine -- sped to the basket for a layup and sliced it to 64-63 with 3:29 left.

The score was frozen until Steindl made one of two free throws to make it 65-63. Wayns tied it on two free throws.

That's when McConnell fired one that was felt from America to Australia -- the Gaels boast five Aussies on their roster -- and had the Gaels pointed toward the Sweet 16.

The only time the Gaels advanced past the first round in the NCAA tournament was 1959 when there were only 23 teams in the field. They beat Idaho State to advance to the Elite Eight.

McConnell, the West Coast Conference tournament MVP when the Gaels upset Gonzaga in the title game, finished with 15 points and Dellavedova had 14.

The Gaels held each of Villanova's top three scorers to under double figures. Fisher and Antonio Pena both scored nine points to join Reynolds as a trio of underachievers. Corey Stokes led the Wildcats with 15 points.

"We understand the expectations were much higher for this team," coach Jay Wright said.

[Bear]

Kid, did you see this game? If was one of the great games I have seen in college basketball. The Gaels were amazing.:clap:

[SF Kid]

No I missed it. Damn.

Saw the Huskies destroy the Lobos though.

Loved it that Kansas got washed out. LOL @ Kansas.

[McCovey]

You know I've lived in the Bay Area since 1998 and I have never visited the city of Moraga. :o

[Bear]

You know I've lived in the Bay Area since 1998 and I have never visited the city of Moraga. :o

It's a beautiful spot, but can get very hot in the summer. St. Mary's has a very nice campus also.:beerbang:

[SF Kid]

Big Bummer...

Baylor takes control early, cruises in semifinals

HOUSTON -- LaceDarius Dunn, Tweety Carter and Baylor had all the fun Friday night, ending what had been an entertaining NCAA tournament ride for Omar Samhan and surprising Saint Mary's.

Dunn and Carter both made 3-pointers on their first shots and later combined for a highlight alley-oop dunk as Baylor rushed to a huge lead and romped 72-49 in the South Regional semifinals.

The third-seeded Bears (28-7) led 46-17 at halftime and could begin looking ahead to Sunday, when they will play for a chance at their first Final Four since 1950, when there were only eight teams in the field.

More impressive for Baylor, it is another inspiring step in redemption nearly seven years after coach Scott Drew took over a program reeling and recovering from a murder and scandal that shook the world's largest Baptist university like nothing in its history.

Drew had to rebuild with reduced scholarships, a roster decimated when the top three scorers were allowed to transfer and an unprecedented half-season after the NCAA considered shutting the program down a whole year.
Dunn and Carter, two top Louisiana high school players who were recruited by other established programs, still came to Baylor. And now they have helped get the Bears, who were picked 10th in the preseason Big 12 poll by the league's coaches, be one of only eight teams still with a chance to win the national title.

"That's the reason why we came here. To be a part of something special," Carter said. "It really means a lot to me, this team, this program, for us to come through all the adversity."

Dunn scored 23 points with four 3-pointers and Carter added 14 points for Baylor. Dunn turned away with a wide smile after the teammates combined on their big dunk.

Samhan, who had become a breakout star in the tournament with his dominating play in the first two rounds and the one-liners when talking or tweeting, finished with 15 points and nine rebounds for the Gaels (28-6). He had only made only 1-of-8 shots and had only three points at halftime.
With Samhan held in check, the tiny school from Moraga, Calif., that beat Villanova and Richmond earlier in the tournament was headed home.

"Bottom line, when it was all said and done, I was proud of what we did this year," coach Randy Bennett said. "I told them they we stunk tonight. ... Nobody wanted it to go that way but it went that way."

During the interview sessions the day before the game, Samhan stopped and waved to everyone when he stepped onto the stage. There was the often-comedic interaction with two of his teammates during the 15-minute session and the 6-foot-11 center made sure the television cameras were aimed on him at one point before professing his love to singer Taylor Swift.

Dunn, Carter and Baylor post player Ekpe Udoh, meanwhile, rarely smiled while answering questions directly. They were already to play, expecting to continue this "business trip" not far from home -- a 3 1/2-hour drive from their Waco campus.

Carter hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key on his first shot, then Dunn hit one on the next Baylor possession.

Even when things didn't go exactly as planned, the Bears were still were making things happen.

When an earlier ally-oop attempt from Carter was off-target, Dunn grabbed the ball out of the air, took a couple of steps along the baseline, then turned and hit a short jumper. That was part of a 9-0 run that put the Bears in control early.

The highlight ally-oop came when Dunn stripped the ball from freshman Matthew Dellavedova near midcourt and took off toward the basket. Dunn passed the ball to Carter trailing on his left, and the point guard never dribbled the ball, instead tossed it toward the rim for a slam and a 29-11 lead.

Coming back down the court, Dunn turned and flashed a wide smile to the crowd -- predominantly filled with fans dressed in green and gold, clearly outnumbering the one section of Saint Mary's fans near the Gaels' bench.
After their lowest-scoring half of the season, things never got better for the Gaels after halftime. Their deficit increased to 35 within a couple of minutes later.

But Samhan was still playing hard and talking. With about 6 1/2 minutes left in the game, an official had to pull Samhan and Baylor center Josh Lomers together for a quick talk after they had been jawing at each other. On the next possession, Samhan saved the ball for Saint Mary's by swiping it back off Lomers' face.

Lomers turned away smiling. There were plenty of reasons for that reaction, considering the score.

Despite the disappointing and lopsided finish, it was an incredible run for Gaels, whose only NCAA tournament victory had come in 1959 before beating higher seeds Richmond and Villanova.

Often overshadowed in the West Coast Conference by NCAA tournament regular Gonzaga, which has won 10 conference titles in a row, Saint Mary's beat the Gonzaga 81-62 in the WCC tournament to earn the automatic NCAA bid. And the Gaels did that after losing Patty Mills to the NBA and five other seniors from a 28-win team last season.