LAS VEGAS — After a long wait, a whole four days after the opening round of games in the 2022 WCC Tournament, second-seeded and 17^th-ranked Saint Mary's Men's Basketball went to work in the semifinals against third-seeded Santa Clara. It was interesting to see how a nine-day layoff following a win over No. 1 Gonzaga would affect the Gaels, but they shook off any rust they had very early. Saint Mary's hung on late to take down the Broncos of Santa Clara by a 75-72 final to advance to the WCC Championship game on Tuesday night.
 
MODEL OF EFFICIENCY
The Saint Mary's secret to success this season has been all about limiting possessions from great defense and efficient offense, and SMC had that efficiency cranked up in the first half against Santa Clara. The Gaels shot 48.4% from the field in the opening stanza, and their offense was averaging nearly 1.15 points per possession. Perhaps most impressive in the first half was their turnover number, down at just two, their lowest mark in a first half this season. All-WCC First Team players Tommy Kuhse and Matthias Tass led the way with 10 points.
 
SECOND HALF SPURT
The Gaels were a second-half team all season long, but they struggled to put up the big bursts down the stretch that fans were accustomed to. That changed on Monday night in the semifinals, as the Gaels scored the first 10 points coming out of break, taking a five-point game to a 15-point game, which was their largest of the night at the time. Kuhse scored eight of those 10 points, including back-to-back three-pointers to cap off that run that lasted nearly four minutes.
 
DOWN TO THE WIRE
Saint Mary's led by 11 points with 7:09 remaining, but Santa Clara fought all the way back to make it a one-point game with less than a minute remaining. A 6-0 run cut it to 67-62 with just over five minutes remaining, and then Keshawn Justice hit eight points in three minutes to suddenly make it 73-72. The biggest moment in the game came after Kuhse was blocked on a layup with 15 seconds remaining, giving the Broncos a chance for the win. Jalen Williams went for a mid-range go-ahead shot, but was blocked from the side by Logan Johnson. He grabbed the loose ball, was fouled, hit both free throws, and Saint Mary's held on.
 
TAKEOVER FROM THE TOP
The stars came out and shined on Monday night for Saint Mary's, as three of the team's All-WCC players were easily the best on the floor. Kuhse led the way with a season-best 27 points on 11-18 shooting, and was a perfect 3-3 from beyond the arc. He also added five rebounds and four steals. Tass followed with 18 points, including a tidy 8-11 from the floor and seven rebounds. Johnson had the massive block late and finished with 14 points, seven rebounds, and two assists.
 
AMONG OTHER NUMBERS
Saint Mary's earns win number 25 on the season, the 13^th time in program history that the Gaels have won 25 or more games in a season…despite the late drama, the Gaels never tailed against the Broncos…thanks to some heavy foulage midway through the second half, the Gaels allowed the Broncos to shoot 23 free throws, compared to 16 for SMC (Gaels were 13-16, Broncos 15-23)…SMC was protective of the basketball all game, losing the ball just eight times, but the Broncos only had three, leading to a 17-0 advantage in points off of turnvoers.
 
POSTGAME PRESSER
"Range of emotions right now…Santa Clara is really good, and matchup-wise they give us problems. I thought we played well for a long-time. We have to be better at closing out but credit them, but we were able to separate off at the end. Guys like [Tass and Kuhse] had a lot to do with that. It was a really good team effort. We have to be better tomorrow if we're going to win that game." – head coach Randy Bennett
 
"He is such a huge part of our offense. He has the ball 30% of the time on our offensive possessions and he creates opportunities for me and for other guys on the court,which is huge because he gets us those open looks and we've been pretty good at moving the ball around and getting our teammates shots. It all starts from Tommy." – Matthias Tass
 
"He does it really every night for us no matter who we play, and it gives us such confidence as a unit defensively that we can stick him on whoever we need to and he's going to get the job done. He really anchors our defense and helps out a lot." – Tommy Kuhse, speaking of Logan Johnson.
 
UP NEXT
No. 17 Saint Mary's will get another crack at No. 1 Gonzaga on Tuesday night in the 2022 University Credit Union West Coast Conference championship game. The two teams meet in the WCC championship game for the 12^th time, and the first since 2020, when Gonzaga beat the Gaels 84-66 after the Gaels trailed by just one point at halftime. Tip-off of the title game is at 6:00 pm on ESPN, with Dave Flemming and Sean Farnham on the call. The two teams split during the regular season, with Gonzaga winning by 16 in Spokane, and the Gaels winning by 10 in Moraga to close out the regular season.