Well, we didn't get a re-run but the show in the first 20 minutes was damn entertaining. The last 20 were less so as the St. Mary's came from 12 down at halftime (45-33) to win 78-71 Monday night at Walt McPherson Court.
With 11:34 remaining and San Jose State up by two, Aussie Matthew Delladova nailed a trey to put the Gaels finally ahead 54-52. The Spartans shots attempts were almost exclusively short up to that point in the second 20 minutes and St. Mary's was connecting both inside and from long distance.
At the 9:19 mark, Chris Oakes put SJSU back up at 57-56 but Wayne Hunter followed with a Gael three-pointer. Hunter came into the game shooting 31% from long range, the lowest of all the St. Mary's players who are on the court for significant time, yet managed four treys in six attempts Monday evening.
He nailed another with 8:34 left to widen the St. Mary's lead to five, 62-57.
A Mac Peterson three-pointer from the left side pulled the Spartans to within four at 73-69 with 1:26 remaining but it became a freethrow shooting contest after that.
Going 11-22 overall at the foul line damaged the San Jose State chance for a victory.
The Gaels shot 30-64 (48%) for the game while SJSU went 28-64 (44%). Breaking that down even further, St. Mary's tallied 41% shooting in the first half but raised that to 55% in the second twenty. The Spartans were an en fuego 59% in the initial period but cooled down to 28% afterwards.
Points in the paint went favorably to SJSU 36-28. The Spartans reserves out-scored their counterparts 22-14.
Omar Sanhan and Ben Allen, the Gael bigs, went 5-12 and 3-8 respectively after coming in shooting .65% and 67% on the season.
C.J. Webster garnered a double-double of 18 points and ten boards. Chris Oakes just missed earning one with 14 points and nine rebounds.
It was more the St. Mary's trio of smalls that did the shooting damage. Mickey McConnell shot 7-12, Hunter 6-11 and Matthew Dellavedova 4-10. McConnell topped his team with both 19 points and eight assists.
Good news: 11 turnovers for SJSU -- St. Mary's committed 13.
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Kevin McCarthy is the Basketball Editor for Inside Sparta. You may contact Kevin with any questions, comments, or tips at kevin@insidesparta.com
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