San Francisco, CA - The Saint Mary's men's basketball team posted an 81-77 triple overtime victory over the San Francisco Dons in a West Coast Conference game from War Memorial Gym in San Francisco on Thursday night. With the win over the Dons, Saint Mary's will finish the WCC schedule in second place, following Gonzaga's win over Portland tonight.
At the end of regulation, Jonathan Sanders hit two free throws with 21.1 seconds on the clock to even the score at 54-54. On USF's ensuing possession, Frederic Adjiwanou forced a Tyrone Riley turnover with 6.6 seconds remaining. On SMC's inbounds pass, USF's Andre Hazel stole the ball from E.J. Rowland and missed the lay-up attempt as time expired.
In the first overtime, Saint Mary's held a 62-60 advantage, but could not score another point the final 1:31. John Cox hit a jumper with 1:14 on the clock to even the score at 62-62.
In the second overtime, USF held a 3-point advantage (69-66) following a basket by Hazel with 2:17 on the clock. Rowland answered with an 8-foot jumper to cut the deficit to 69-68 with 2:05 remaining. With the score the same, Sanders went to the free throw line with a chance to win the game with four seconds left. Sanders made the first attempt and missed the second, to keep the score knotted at 69-69 after 50 minutes of action.
The Gaels took the lead for good in the third overtime when Brett Collins hit a three from the right wing, giving SMC a 76-73 lead with two minutes left to play. Then, Rowland hit two free throws, extending the lead to five points. John Cox, who finished with a game-high 29 points, hit a deep three on the next possession to cut the lead to 78-76, but Rowland answered with a 10-foot jumper with 31 seconds left on the clock.
Paul Marigney paced the Gaels with 22 points, before fouling out with 25 seconds left in the second overtime. Marigney was 7-of-13 from the field and made 4-of-5 shots from 3-point land. Adjiwanou finished the game with his fourth double-double of the season with 15 points and 15 rebounds. Adjiwanou did most of his scoring from the free throw line, where he made 9-of-11 attempts from the stripe.
Chipping in with double figures for the Gaels were Daniel Kickert and Rowland, both finished with 15 points.
The Gaels out rebounded the Dons by a 51 to 37 mark, and collected 17 offensive rebounds. SMC shot 39.3 percent from the floor, making 24-of-61 shots overall. Saint Mary's connected on 7-of-20 shots from 3-point land and made 26-of-34 shots from the free throw line.
With the win the Gaels are now 23-7 overall and have a 10-3 record in the West Coast Conference. The win locked up second place in the conference standings. The Gaels will close the season on the road at San Diego on Saturday afternoon. The game between the Gaels and Toreros will tip-off at 4:05 p.m. from the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
