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SMC California Athletics

Saint Mary's College Athletics Gaels
Jordan Ford game winner vs BYU WCC Tournament 2020
Saint Mary's Athletics / Tod Fierner
51
Winner Saint Mary's (CA) SMC 26-7,11-5 WCC
50
BYU BYU 24-8,13-3 WCC
Winner
Saint Mary's (CA) SMC
26-7,11-5 WCC
51
Final
50
BYU BYU
24-8,13-3 WCC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Saint Mary's (CA) SMC 20 31 51
BYU BYU 26 24 50

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

MBB | Ford's Heroics Puts Saint Mary's in WCC Championship

LAS VEGAS — Jordan Ford once again willed Saint Mary's (26-7, 11-5 WCC) to a dramatic win in the semifinals of the West Coast Conference Tournament as his last second jumper pushed the Gaels past 2-seed No. 14 BYU, 51-50. 

HOW IT HAPPENED
With seven seconds remaining and the Gaels down one, Ford received the inbound pass from Tanner Krebs in the back court, drove to the right side, pulled up from 15 feet out and found nothing but nylon with 1.4 on the clock. The Cougars' ensuing hail mary pass would carom out of bounds and allow Saint Mary's to defend their conference title tomorrow night versus No. 2 Gonzaga. 

Tipoff for the championship game will be at 6 p.m. The game can be seen on ESPN or listened to on TuneIn Radio as well as Sirius 131 and XM 201. 

A 12-0 run by the Gaels with 6:28 to play would give them their first lead of the game since there were more than 15 minutes left in the first half. Ford hit a floater from the charity stripe to conclude the streak, marking his 1,889th and 1,9000th career points. He became the second Gael to ever attain that level of scoring and is joined only by Matthew Dellavedova (1,933). 

BYU replied with a 6-0 run of their own however to retake the lead 48-46 with three and a half minutes remaining. 

Fast forward two minutes, Malik Fitts eurostepped through traffic and sunk up a high floater that brought SMC back to down just one. On the very next possession, BYU's Yoeli Childs looked to have a surefire dunk but Fitts went up high to reject the attempt and Saint Mary's wound up with the ball. 

Ford led the team with 18 points in 34 minutes of action. Fitts had an off night shooting but grabbed eight rebounds, had two steals in addition to his block, and scored six points in the second half. Dan Fotu was the only other Gael to reach double figures in the low scoring affair with 10 points. 

Neither team shot particularly well in the game despite coming into the contest as two of the top-10 offenses in the nation. Saint Mary's finished shooting 37 percent while BYU shot 36. SMC bounced back from early shooting struggles however to make 46 percent of their tries after halftime. 

The Gaels' defense was extremely efficient at limiting the Cougars' opportunities in the final half as they made only six field goals on 25 attempts in the final 20 minutes. 

BYU led 26-20 at the break in a low scoring half for both teams. The Gaels' 20 points were the fewest in a half all season and BYU's 26 were their fourth fewest in a half. The Cougars 24 second half points tied for their second lowest. 

Early on, BYU went up by nine midway through the first half but a 7-0 run by the Gaels brought that lead back down to two. Fitts scored his first points of the ballgame after beginning 0-for-6 by canning a three in the face of Childs off a behind the back the pass from Tommy Kuhse to cap off the run. 

The Gaels began the game cold from the floor going 3-for-15 but managed to keep the game within a few possessions by forcing five BYU turnovers in the opening eight minutes and change.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
50: The Gaels held BYU to their lowest point total all season. 
10: Saint Mary's had 10 steals in the win and forced 15 turnovers overall. 
31: Ford now trails Matthew Dellavedova by 31 points for the program's all-time scoring record.
5: Saint Mary's held TJ Haws to only five points in the contest. 

UP NEXT: WCC CHAMPIONSHIP
The Gaels will see a familiar foe tomorrow night in the championship game as they take on No. 2 Gonzaga. The contest will be a rematch of last year's finals where Saint Mary's arose victorious, 60-47. 
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