SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - Redshirt freshman Brad Waldow scored a career-high 13 points and Rob Jones chipped-in his sixth-straight double-double to lead the Saint Mary's men's basketball team to a tight 59-54 win over Cal Poly in front of a rowdy 2,878 fans at Mott Gymnasium.
The Gaels improved to 5-1 on the season and have won their last three games. Saint Mary's next hosts Jackson State on Dec. 15 at 7 p.m. in McKeon Pavilion. Cal Poly dropped its record to 5-3 overall.
"I had a talk with coach and I had to approach the game with a completely different attitude," said Waldow, who went 5-for-6 from the field. "I got a lot of confidence throughout practice and my teammates trust me and I trust them. We knew this was not going to be an easy win, and it wasn't."
The victory marked the first-ever for Saint Mary's at Cal Poly in five tries, dating back to 1962 and was the team's first road victory of the season. The Gaels improve the all-time record to 6-6 in the series history between the two teams.
Jones scored a game-high 18 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead the Gaels. The WCC leader in both categories also blocked three shots and went 8-of-14 from the field.
Forward David Hanson led the Mustangs with 15 points.
The Gaels shot just 11-for-19 from the free throw line for .579 percent in the game, but made their last six down the stretch. Senior Matthew Dellavedova connected on a pair of charity shots with less than :10 seconds remaining to confirm the win.
Comments From Head Coach Randy Bennett
"This was just the type of game we thought it was going to be, a tough grind it out game. That's the type of game they play and they are very good at it. They play really tough down here at their own gym and are hard to separate from. I thought we played really well defensively the whole game. In the second half we made some shots and separated from them a little bit. It was a good win for us. We needed to win on the road. We haven't done that, yet, and that's one of the little steps you have to do to have a successfull season."
(Any halftime adjustments?) "Nothing much. We just made better decisions in the second half. We adjusted to their play and executed."
(On play of Waldow) "Oh, he played great. It was a big breakthrough for our team. We needed some help at that five spot. Its going to be by committee a little bit. The other night it was Kenton Walker. Tonight, it was Brad. He played great, so we just stayed with him. If its not Kyle, its going to be Kenton or Brad. Playing without Mitch, we needed some guys to step up and tonight it was Brad."
