Saxen, Ducas lead Saint Mary’s past VCU in March Madness

Associated PressMar 17, 2023, 7:25 PM EDT

David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

ALBANY, N.Y. – Saint Mary’s got the pace it wanted – and another win in the NCAA Tournament.

Mitchell Saxen had 17 points, seven rebounds and four blocks, and Saint Mary’s beat ailing VCU 63-51 on Friday.

Alex Ducas also scored 17 points as the fifth-seeded Gaels (27-7) advanced to the second round for the second straight year. Logan Johnson had 12 points and 10 rebounds – part of a strong effort in the paint for Saint Mary’s – and reserve Augustas Marciulionis scored 13 points.

In a matchup of the Gaels’ more deliberate style and the Rams’ up-tempo game, Saint Mary’s controlled most of the action.

“I thought we’d beat them inside,” Saint Mary’s coach Randy Bennett said. “Both teams have good guards. It was a gritty game, and we just kind of outlasted them a little bit and got a little separation and were able to hang on.”

Ace Baldwin led VCU (27-8) with 13 points, but he hurt his Achilles tendon and groin after taking a jumper with just over 14 minutes left in regulation. The Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year lay on the court for a couple of minutes before receiving treatment on the bench and back in the locker room.

VCU was down 38-34 when Baldwin left and 48-39 when he came back with 9:03 left after the Gaels of the West Coast Conference went on a 10-5 spurt sparked by a three-point play by Kyle Bowen.

Baldwin hit a jump shot after returning but left the floor for good three minutes later.

“It’s a bummer,” VCU coach Mike Rhoades said. “Your best player goes down in an NCAA Tournament game, like come on, man. But this is sports. This is competition. Things happen. You’ve still got to find ways. You’ve still got to find a way. Look, we got beat by a better team today. They played better in the second half than we did, and they won.”

Saint Mary’s held VCU to its second-lowest point total of the season. The Rams had 47 against Memphis.

“The whole second half, our message to each other was keep plugging, keep running our offense, and they’re going to break,” Saxen said. “(The injury) might have been the tipping point that broke the dam, but I think it’s a testament to our persistence and just trusting each other that we were able to just keep plugging until the water broke.”

Saint Mary’s, which held a 37-29 rebounding edge, will play No. 4 seed UConn or 13th-seeded Iona and coach Rick Pitino on Sunday.

The NCAA appearance was the first for 12th-seeded VCU since it had to forfeit a game in the 2021 tournament because of a COVID-19 outbreak. The Rams had won nine in a row.

Saint Mary’s held a 29-28 halftime lead in a rugged contest where neither team led by more than four points and tight, tough defense was the norm.

SHOOTING WOES

Saint Mary’s shot 3 for 17 from 3-point range and 41% (20 for 49) overall. Freshman guard Aidan Mahaney, who was averaging 14.5 points, was 0 for 5 from the field and didn’t score for the first time this season.

“Like I said before, this is the best sporting event in this country,” Bennett said. “So everybody’s watching. There’s a little pressure there. I look forward to seeing him play Sunday. He’s a good player. He got in foul trouble, and he didn’t have a great game today, but he’ll bounce back.”

VCU wasn’t much better. It only made six field goals in the second half. It shot 36.7% (18 for 48). Baldwin was its only player in double figures.

BIG PICTURE

VCU: The Rams have a lot coming back, so they should be able to contend next season.

Saint Mary’s: The Gaels showed they can play defense, too.

UP NEXT

Saint Mary’s got bounced in the second round by UCLA late year after beating Indiana by 29.

Timme sets record, Gonzaga routs Saint Mary’s for WCC title

Associated PressMar 8, 2023, 12:32 AM EST

Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

LAS VEGAS — Gonzaga’s players heard the criticisms this wasn’t the same Bulldogs team that has been among the nation’s elite in recent years, and they even struggled themselves to live up to the program’s enormous expectations.

“There were numerous days where I was not fun to be around,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said.

The Bulldogs kept working at it, and No. 9 Gonzaga sent a message to the rest of the country with a dominant-from-the-start 77-51 victory over No. 16 Saint Mary’s in the championship game of the West Coast Conference Tournament.

The Zags (28-5) continued their domination of the WCC with their fourth consecutive tournament championship and 10th in 11 years, with Saint Mary’s in 2019 being the only exception. Gonzaga has won 21 tournament titles overall.

Drew Timme scored 18 points and became Gonzaga’s all-time leading scorer, earning tournament Most Outstanding Player.

“I took for granted winning,” Timme said. “I won so much in my career, it’s a shock not to win. I think early in the year, it just kind of made me appreciate what it takes to win night in and night out. I think sometimes we kind of assume we were just going to win because we’re Gonzaga.

“Sometimes it’s hard not to fall into mindset we just need to get to March. It was grind this season. I think that grind has made us as a group appreciate each and every night winning and what it takes to win and be a good team.”

Saint Mary’s (26-7) was seeded first in the tournament after the teams split the regular-season series, and Timme said it was strange wearing a blue jersey rather than the customary white one. The Gaels were the last team to beat Gonzaga, which takes a nine-game winning streak into the NCAA Tournament that includes beating Saint Mary’s to end the regular season.

Both teams will find out their seedings and destinations Sunday.

Gonzaga made 58% of its shots, while holding Saint Mary’s to 33% shooting. The Bulldogs led by as many as 37 points and never trailed.

Timme was efficient in making 8 of 10 shots to lead four Bulldogs into double figures. Malachi Smith scored 14 points, Nolan Hickman 12 points and Julian Strawther 10. Anton Watson had 10 rebounds.

Timme’s short jumper with 10:18 left put him in first place alone as the leading scorer in Saint Mary’s history. He entered just five points short of breaking the mark, and his 18 points for the game gave him 2,210 for his career. Frank Burgess held the previous record of 2,196 from 1958-61.

Logan Johnson led the Gaels with 20 points, and Alex Ducas scored 10.

Gonzaga took control early, using a nine-point run to go up 14-4 and maintained a double-digit lead most of the way from there. The Zags at one point in the first half made 10 of 12 field goals, and by halftime, they had taken full command with a 37-19 lead.

“I told our guys we played 32 games and played pretty well in 32 of them,” Saint Mary’s coach Randy Bennett said. “This one, we’re off. You can credit them. They played well. We didn’t show up.”

BIG PICTURE

Gonzaga: Now is when the real pressure is on Gonzaga, which had made numerous deep runs in the NCAA Tournament, but is still searching for that elusive national championship. Until that happens, critics will say the WCC school is not on the same level as those from the power conference. It’s up the the Zags to prove them wrong.

Saint Mary’s: Saint Mary’s nearly gave away all of a 26-point lead in Monday’s semifinals because the Gaels had trouble with BYU’s press. Gonzaga threw the press at Saint Mary’s, and while it didn’t result in transition baskets for the Bulldogs, it slowed the Gaels’ offense. Saint Mary’s will need to figure out how to better execute against the press, or it will be a problem in the NCAA Tournament.

UP NEXT

Gonzaga has a legitimate shot at a No. 2 seed, and it entered the game ninth in the NET rankings, a metric the NCAA committee uses in selecting the field. Even though Saint Mary’s was ranked just one spot ahead of the Bulldogs, the Gaels likely are looking at more of a five or six seed.

Top-ranked Houston grinds out 53-48 win over Saint Mary’s

Associated PressDec 4, 2022, 12:36 AM EST

Chris Jones-USA TODAY Sports

FORT WORTH, Texas – J’Wan Roberts scored 15 points, Marcus Sasser added 13 and top-ranked Houston held on to beat Saint Mary’s 53-48 on Saturday night.

The Cougars (8-0) won twice in their first week as the No. 1 team since the final poll of the 1982-83 regular season, when Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon led high-flying Phi Slama Jama.

Logan Johnson scored 17 points and Aidan Mahaney had 14 for the Gaels (6-3), who lost their third in a row following a 6-0 start.

Houston was the favorite to win it all in the second of three consecutive trips to the Final Four nearly 40 years ago, but lost to Jim Valvano and North Carolina State in one of the iconic championship games.

Coach Kelvin Sampson’s first top-ranked team is coming off trips to the Final Four and Elite Eight the past two seasons.

For the third straight year, the postseason path will start at Dickie’s Arena, where Sampson likes to bring his team during the regular season as prep for the American Athletic Conference tourney.

This victory in the Battleground 2k22 series improved the Cougars to 9-0 in the arena near downtown Fort Worth, where they have won AAC tournament titles each of the past two years.

Saint Mary’s whittled a 12-point deficit to a single possession when Mahaney hit a 3, and he made it a three-point game again at 46-43 with another from long range.

Roberts answered by backing down for a short jump hook before Sasser converted a three-point play to put the Cougars up 51-43.

Houston broke a 17-all tie with a 14-3 run to finish the first half, with Saint Mary’s going 1 of 11 from the field in that stretch against the vaunted Cougars defense. Both teams shot 37%.

BIG PICTURE

Saint Mary’s: Facing the No. 1 team isn’t foreign to the Gaels, who play in the West Coast Conference with Gonzaga. St. Mary’s is 2-7 against the Zags when they have the top ranking, with one of the victories coming last season.

Houston: The Cougars had no trouble in their debut with the No. 1 ranking, blowing out Norfolk State 100-52 at home Tuesday. A disciplined and tournament-tested opponent for the second game was just the threat Sampson’s club figured it could be.

UP NEXT

Saint Mary’s: Missouri State at home Wednesday.

Houston: North Florida at home Tuesday.

UCLA turns away Saint Mary’s 72-56, returns to Sweet 16

Associated PressMar 19, 2022, 10:52 PM EDT

Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

PORTLAND, Ore. — Tyger Campbell scored 16 points and fourth-seeded UCLA completed a more conventional path to the Sweet 16, beating fifth-seeded Saint Mary’s 72-56 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday.

UCLA (27-7), which went all the way from the First Four to the Final Four last season, will face eighth-seeded North Carolina on Friday in the East Region semifinals in Philadelphia. The Tar Heels are the more surprising half of that blueblood pair after they beat defending champion Baylor earlier Saturday.

The Bruins lost star Jaime Jaquez Jr. to a right ankle injury with 6:58 in the game. He winced as he was helped off the court by teammates and later returned to the bench with his ankle wrapped in ice. Jaquez finished with 15 points, all in the first half.

Logan Johnson scored 18 points for Saint Mary’s (26-8), the only team in the West Coast Conference to beat No. 1 overall seed Gonzaga this season.

The Bruins took a 36-29 lead into halftime but the Gaels closed within 38-37 early in the second half on Alex Ducas’ 3-pointer. Jules Bernard hit a 3 and a layup that pushed UCLA’s lead back to 48-41.

Johnny Juzang made three consecutive jumpers that put the Bruins up 54-44 with 9:41 left and UCLA pulled away, leading by as many as 18 points down the stretch. Juzang finished with 14 points.

The Gaels hit three 3-pointers to jump out to an early 16-9 lead. Shutting down Saint Mary’s with physical defense, the Bruins went on an 11-2 run to pull in front 24-22.

Saint Mary’s was 0-for-12 from the field and had three turnovers during a stretch of more than seven minutes toward the end of the half.

BIG PICTURE

Saint Mary’s: The Gaels downed all three of their common opponents with UCLA this season – Oregon, Gonzaga and Bellarmine. The Bruins fell to Gonzaga and twice to the Ducks. The 18th-ranked Gaels earned their highest seed in 11 NCAA Tournament appearances but fell short of their first Sweet 16 appearance since 2010.

UCLA: The Bruins are 11-2 all-time against Saint Mary’s, but the teams had not played since 1990. … UCLA is making its 51st tournament appearance. The Bruins have a record 11 national titles.

Fifth-seeded Saint Mary’s routs No. 12 Indiana 82-53

Associated PressMar 17, 2022, 10:14 PM EDT

Troy Wayrynen-USA TODAY Sports

PORTLAND, Ore. — Logan Johnson scored 20 points and fifth-seeded Saint Mary’s took advantage of No. 12 seed Indiana’s grueling recent schedule, rolling to an 82-53 victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday.

Tommy Kuhse added 19 points and six assists for the Gaels (26-7), the only team to beat Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference this season. Saint Mary’s will play the winner of the East Region’s late game between No. 4 seed UCLA and 13th-seeded Akron.

Trayce Jackson-Davis had 12 points for Indiana (21-14), which arrived in Portland on Wednesday morning after an all-nighter because of flight delays from Dayton following the First Four. The Hoosiers won their first tournament game since 2016 by beating Wyoming 66-58 on Tuesday night.

Thursday’s game was Indiana’s fifth in seven days. Saint Mary’s came in fresh from a 10-day layoff after falling to the Bulldogs in the WCC Tournament title game.

Saint Mary’s pulled away late in the first half and led by as many as 34 points – and the overtaxed Hoosiers couldn’t catch up.

The Gaels, ranked No. 19 in last AP Top 25, earned their highest seed ever in 11 NCAA Tournament appearances. Their best finish in the tournament came in 2010, when they went to the Sweet 16.

Saint Mary’s stature in the tournament was no doubt boosted by its 67-57 win at home over No. 1 Gonzaga on Feb. 26.

Indiana, which has won five NCAA championships, was making its 40th tournament appearance.

At least at the start, Indiana wasn’t showing any fatigue. The Hoosiers had a narrow lead for much of the half until Alex Ducas’ 3-pointer that put Saint Mary’s in front 25-21. The Gaels extended the lead to 33-26 on another Ducas 3.

Saint Mary’s ground Indiana down and led 40-28 at the half. Ducas, a junior from Australia, finished with 13 points.

The Gaels stretched the lead to 55-31 in the second half on Kuhse’s 3-pointer.

A LITTLE HELP?

When the ball got stuck between the backboard and the shot clock early in the second half, the players tried with no success to get it free. A ref even stood on a folding chair to try and poke it free, to no avail.

Enter Indiana’s resourceful cheer squad: A cheerleader lofted by a male counterpart was able to rescue the ball.

BIG PICTURE

Indiana: The only previous meeting against Saint Mary’s was way back in 1957. The Hoosiers won, 79-66 in Bloomington. … Jackson-Davis averaged 18.4 points and 8.2 rebounds.

Saint Mary’s: Bennett, in his 21st season with the Gaels, was named the WCC Coach of the Year. He’s won the honor four times. But the latest comes after turning around a team that struggled last season to finish 14-10. … Saint Mary’s wore warmup jerseys that read “No Quit.”

UP NEXT

The winner will play the winner of Thursday’s late game in Portland between UCLA and Akron on Saturday.

Indiana, Wyoming one win from big bracket

Associated PressMar 15, 2022, 1:59 PM EDT

Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Indiana coach Mike Woodson talked about the NCAA Tournament as a goal during the course of the 2021-22 season.

The Hoosiers (20-13) achieved that objective by putting together a run in the Big Ten tournament. Indiana brings momentum as a 12 seed when they face 12th-seeded Wyoming in a First Four matchup on Tuesday in Dayton, Ohio.

The winner will fly to Portland, Ore., to face fifth-seeded Saint Mary’s on Thursday in an East Region matchup.

Indiana, a blueblood program with five national titles, is making its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2016. As a player at Indiana from 1976-80, Woodson was part of two NCAA Tournaments in four seasons.

“It’s a beautiful thing,” Woodson said. “I’m so thrilled because these guys have worked their butts off to get to this point, and I want to see them move on. I want to see us continue to win. That’s what it’s all about.”

Indiana made a late push to secure a big by pulling of back to back wins over Michigan and Illinois in the Big Ten tournament before falling to eventual Big Ten tourney champion Iowa 80-77 on a last-second shot by Jordan Bohannon.

Trayce Jackson-Davis, who was named to the All-Big Ten tournament team, fueled Indiana’s tournament run by averaging 25.3 points and 8.7 rebounds over the three games.

“I don’t think anyone wants to see us right now,” Jackson-Davis said. “I think we’ve proven not only to the Big Ten but to the country that we’re also a team, a top team that can compete with anyone. So took the last-second three to beat us to the hottest team in the Big Ten right now and it stings, but at the same time I feel like we’ve got a lot of ball left.”

Point guard Xavier Johnson has also played at a high level for the Hoosiers late in the season. Johnson has scored in double figures in eight straight games, averaging 18.1 points and 6.8 assists during that stretch.

“Maybe he wasn’t too comfortable early on with me kind of in his ear a lot,” Woodson said. “But I was just trying to get him to play the right way and he’s done that here the last eight to 10 games.”

Wyoming (25-8) finished fourth in the Mountain West Conference under second-year coach Jeff Linder and are coming off a 68-61 loss to Boise State in the MWC tournament semifinals. The Cowboys are making their 16th NCAA Tournament appearance in school history and first appearance since 2015.

Wyoming has been led this season by sophomore center Graham Ike (19.6 ppg, 9.6 rpg), who is just one of four players nationally averaging more than 19 points and six rebounds per game. Hunter Maldonado, a 6-foot-7 guard, is another strong all-around player who is averaging 18.4 points, 5.8 rebounds and 6.3 assists for the Cowboys.

“It’s a great opportunity for our team and the University of Wyoming,” Linder said. “The beauty of the First Four is that you’re the only games on that night. You get a lot of exposure for your program, the school and the state.”