Omar Samhan had 12 points and nine rebounds, Patty Mills added 10 points and five steals and Diamon Simpson 10 points and four boards in the Gaels' third straight win after beating Gonzaga 89-85 in an overtime thriller Monday night.
Simpson scored the first four points of a 12-0 run out of halftime by the Gaels (20-3, 7-1 WCC), who downed the Dons for the ninth time in the last 10 meetings and fifth in a row.
Saint Mary's will stay in the rankings for three consecutive weeks for the first time since 1988-89. The Gaels play at Santa Clara on Monday night. Smith shot 5-for-8 and had 12 of his points in the first half. He had five rebounds in the game.
Todd Golden, the co-West Coast Conference Player of the Week, followed his 19-point performance
- including 6-for-6 from 3-point range - with six points and five assists. He also earned his 79th win, the most by any player in school history.
Tron Smith had 12 points and five rebounds as the Gaels reached 20 wins for the eighth time overall and fourth since joining the WCC in 1952. Saint Mary's got to the 20-victory mark the fastest since the 1988-89 team also did so after just 23 games on the way to 25 victories and an NCAA tournament berth.
After his team jumped to a big lead, Saint Mary's coach Randy Bennett had a chance to rest the regulars and go deep down his bench. Many members of the crowd called it a night with 2:45 remaining, heading for the exits.
Dior Lowhorn had 22 points and 11 rebounds and Danny Cavic added 10 points for the Dons (6-17, 2-6), who won Feb. 2 at Pepperdine to give interim coach Sutton his 800th career victory. Saint Mary's recognized Sutton's accomplishment with an announcement of congratulations before pregame introductions. He is 2-9 since taking over Dec. 26 for the remainder of the season in place of Jessie Evans.
