The Saint Mary’s Gaels took down the Gonzaga Bulldogs 69-60 on Tuesday night in Las Vegas to win the West Coast Conference championship and head to the NCAA Tournament for a third straight year.
Gaels top scorer Aidan Mahaney led the team with 23 points and shot 9 of 15 from the field. Gonzaga appeared to be making a late-game push with Graham Ike’s jumper to narrow Saint Mary’s lead by four points with 4:36 left, but Mahaney drilled a 3-point jumper 20 seconds later.
Aidan Mahaney from NBA range! #GaelRise pic.twitter.com/k7WdKuZVjR
— Saint Mary’s Hoops (@saintmaryshoops) March 13, 2024
The Gaels, who lost to the Zags in last year’s conference championship, continued to widen their lead and were ahead by as much as nine points with a little over two minutes left. Mitchell Saxen finished with 19 points and 15 rebounds for Saint Mary’s, and Augustas Marciulionis had 13 points, four rebounds and eight assists.
Anton Watson led the Bulldogs with 18 points and seven rebounds while Ryan Nembhard added 13 points and 11 assists.
Tuesday’s loss ended the Bulldogs’ nine-game win streak and moved them to 25-7 on the season (14-2 conference). The Gaels improved to 26-7 overall and 15-1 in conference after losing their lone WCC game to the Zags in the regular-season finale.
Impact on the bracket?
Probably not much coming into the day. I had Saint Mary’s as a No. 6 seed and Gonzaga at No. 7. I’ll stick with that. Both are interesting cases for the committee to seed.
Saint Mary’s started just 8-6 but lost only once since Christmas. The Gaels are the 10th-best team in the country since Jan. 1, per BartTorvik’s sorting tool. But those early losses — and a lack of big wins — could limit their seeding ceiling. Regardless, Saint Mary’s grind-it-out style and assortment of shotmakers will be a handful for any opponent in the NCAA Tournament.
As for the Zags, there was legitimate concern in early February that their streak of 24 straight tournaments would end. But wins at Kentucky, San Francisco and Saint Mary’s in the final month assured that this team, which ranked 16th in the NET and 15th in KenPom entering Tuesday, would get in the field with plenty of room to spare. It’s just a matter of how the committee views Gonzaga — and unlike in years past, coach Mark Few’s team lacks a bevy of outstanding wins. — Brian Bennett, college basketball senior editor
Required reading
(Photo: Kyle Terada / USA Today)
