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19 Saint Mary's routs BYU to reach WCC final
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[March 07, 2017]
Jock Landale scored a game-high
22 points, and Saint Mary's made 13 shots from 3-point range as the
19th-ranked Gaels beat BYU 81-50 in a semifinal game of the West
Coast Conference tournament Monday night in Las Vegas.
Saint Mary's (28-3) advances to the championship game Tuesday
against No. 4 Gonzaga, which defeated Santa Clara 77-68 in the other
semifinal Monday. The Bulldogs (31-1) swept the season series with
the Gaels by scores of 79-56 and 74-64.
"We're excited just to be in the final," said Gaels guard Emmett
Naar, who had 12 points and 11 assists Monday. "They got us twice in
the season. We hope we can get a bit of revenge against them."
Including the quarterfinal game Saturday against Portland, Naar has
22 assists and only three turnovers in the tournament.
Landale also finished with 10 rebounds. Two other Gaels reached
double figures in points besides Landale and Naar. Calvin Hermanson
had 14 points and six rebounds, while Tanner Krebs added 11 points.
The Gaels shot 55.8 percent from the field, including 52 percent
from 3-point range. They produced 21 assists with only seven
turnovers.
BYU shot only 25 percent in the first half, including 18.2 percent
from 3-point range, and committed six turnovers. BYU finished at
31.7 percent from the floor, 23.5 percent from beyond the arc, and
10 giveaways.
"We were a couple of steps slow tonight," BYU coach Dave Rose said.
"We had a hard time making a basket. You try to keep the guys up and
motivated and encouraged, and that's tough when it's not going your
way.
"It's hard to score against these guys. I'm disappointed in how we
responded to challenges early in that first half. When the game got
away from us, everything we did in practice did not seem to matter."
BYU (22-11) got a team-high 13 points from T.J. Haws, but he
struggled from the field, making only 5 of 14 shots. Elijah Bryant
contributed 11 points, and Eric Mika finished with 10.
Saint Mary's never trailed as BYU was cold from the field from the
start.
"We have to learn and grow from this," Bryant said. "We must allow
this to sting. That way it can motivate us for the next game."
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After Haws made a 3-pointer to cut the Gaels' lead to
25-17 with 4:21 left in the first half, Saint Mary's outscored the
Cougars 11-3 until halftime. Landale had six points in that stretch.
The Gaels were on top 36-20 at the break behind 12 points from
Landale and nine from Naar.
BYU could not cut into the lead in the second half as the Gaels
opened with the first seven points, including a couple of layups by
Dane Pineau and a 3-pointer by Hermanson.
The Gaels beat BYU for the third time this season, all by
double-digit margins.
"It was a great win because we played well," Saint Mary's coach
Randy Bennett said. "It's nice to play well in this kind of game. It
does not always go that way. We shot 70 percent (from the field) in
the second half. That's an absurd number. Good things happen when
you do that."
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The Gaels' defense, anchored by Landale at the post, limited BYU to
only five assists with 10 turnovers.
"We just did a great job of executing and helping each other,"
Landale said. "We did a really good job of helping with the opposite
bigs. We kept at them."
NOTES: F Eric Mika and G Nick Emery are the 49th and 50th BYU
players to score 1,000 career points. Emery has 168 career
3-pointers, which ranks sixth all time for BYU, but he missed all
four of his long-range attempts Monday and wound up scoreless. ...
BYU has won at least 20 games for an 11th consecutive season. The
Cougars have also reached the postseason in 11 straight seasons. ...
Saint Mary's finished the regular season 26-3 for the
highest-winning percentage (.896) in program history. ... The Gaels
have surpassed the 20-win mark for the 10th straight season, all
under coach Randy Bennett, and the 12th time in school history. [© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All
rights reserved.]
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