Men's Basketball Falls to Gonzaga 73-52 in Semifinals

Sunday, March 9

San Diego, Calif.

9:00 PM

Saint Mary's College of California

Gonzaga (WCC Semifinals)

Men's Basketball Falls to Gonzaga 73-52 in Semifinals

3/9/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

March 9, 2003

Final Stats

San Diego, CA - The Saint Mary's men's basketball team fell to the #1-seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs, 73-52, in the West Coast Conference Tournament semifinals. Freshman Daniel Kickert (Melbourne, Australia) paved the way offensively for the Gaels with a team-high 19 points. With the loss, SMC ends the season 15-15.

After Saint Mary's opened a 13-10 lead midway through the first half, Gonzaga responded with an 11-0 run over the next five minutes to take a 21-13 advantage. The run was ended when Tyler Herr hit an open three from the right corner. Herr then hit 2-of-3 free throws to cut the lead to 21-18 with 4:31 left in the first half.

Blake Stepp then scored five of the next seven points for Gonzaga, as the Bulldogs open its lead to 28-18 with three minutes remaining in the half. Saint Mary's outscored Gonzaga 6-3 over the final three minutes to cut the halftime deficit to 31-24.

Gonzaga opened the second half with a 7-1 run to open a 13-point (38-25) lead just two minutes into the second session. GU opened its lead to 50-34 with 14:20 remaining, as Stepp scored eight straight points for the Bulldogs. The deficit for the Gaels reached 20 points (61-41) following a layin by Cory Violette with 9:17 remaining on the clock.

Besides Kickert's 19 points, Frederic Adjiwanou (Ambilly, France) tallied 12 points and nine rebounds and Tyler Herr (Gilbert, AZ) added 10 points. Jonathan Sanders finished the game with a team-high three assists.