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Las Vegas, NV – The finals of the West Coast Convention event took on a well-recognized ring with top-seed St. Mary’s taking up No. 2-seed Gonzaga. The groups confronted off for the WCC event title for the fourth straight 12 months, and the sixth time within the final seven years. Each groups performed good protection but additionally shot very poorly. Gonzaga maintained a small lead by way of many of the sport and got here away with the 58-51 win. Braden Huff led the winners with 18 factors. Mitchell Saxen led the Gaels with 20 factors and added seven rebounds.
St. Mary’s used the peak and superior rebounding to win each earlier video games towards Gonzaga his season, 62-58 at St. Mary’s and 74-67 at Gonzaga. Coach Mark Few tried to counter the Gaels’ benefit by beginning the Huff together with 6-9 Grahan Ike. That transfer proved to be an excellent one as Huff scored seven early factors to assist the Bulldogs take a fast 20-7 lead. St. Mary’s countered as heart Saxen scored 9 factors as they lower the deficit to 24-17. Harry Wessells made a pleasant block on an Ike layup try with led to a Saxen basket that lower the Gonzaga result in 31-25. The Gaels prolonged their run to eight factors on two Saxen free throws to scale back the margin to 31-29. Ike broke the run with a lay-in however then Ryan Nembhard was referred to as for a technical foul (his third foul). Augustas Marciulionis (12 factors, 5 rebounds, 8 assists) made each free throws and the half ended with the Zags up 33-31.
Saxen scored 14 first half factors for the Gaels whereas Luke Barrett was energetic once more on the boards with eight rebounds. Huff led Gonzaga with 9 factors on the half. The Gaels continued their rebounding effectivity with a 23-14 first half benefit, together with 8-4 off the offensive glass. Gonzaga had a 6-0 edge on quick break factors. The Zags solely dedicated one first half turnover in comparison with St. Mary’s seven and loved an 11-3 edge in factors off turnovers.
Gonzaga maintained a small lead for many of the first a part of the second half and expanded their result in 48-42 on the below 8-minute trip. They had been helped by a lay-in by Khalif Battle. (14 factors, 5 steals) after a St. Mary’s turnover. They maintained their lead at 52-47 with three minutes remaining and St. Mary’s couldn’t get nearer than 4 factors the remainder of the sport.
The groups shot horribly with Gonzaga making 1-of-15 on 3’s and with St. Mary’s lacking all 16 of their three-point makes an attempt. The Gaels maintained their rebounding benefit by a 43-28 margin. Gonzaga gained the sport with stable protection and creating turnovers. They pressured 18 turnovers whereas committing solely 4 and had a 20-3 edge in factors off turnovers.
Graham Ike of Gonzaga was named event MVP. Moe Odum (Pepperdine), Saxen (St. Mary’s), Marciulionis (St. Mary’s) and Battle (Gonzaga) joined Ike on the All-Event workforce.
This text was written by Carl Berman, Managing Accomplice of NetScouts Basketball. You may comply with us on Fb, or on twitter.
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