College Men's Basketball Game Capsules: Saint Mary's upsets Gonzaga in WCC title game

Easy there, MVP. After making mighty Gonzaga look ordinary, these remarkable Gaels need to stay healthy through their first peaceful Selection Sunday in years before a trip to the NCAA tournament.

McConnell matched his career high with 26 points, Ben Allen added a career-best 20 and Saint Mary's upset the 18th-ranked Zags 81-62 Monday night, winning the West Coast Conference tournament title game with stunning decisiveness.

Jorden Page scored 11 points and Samhan had nine points and seven rebounds for the Gaels (26-5), who earned the sixth NCAA berth in the small Bay Area school's history with a stellar shooting performance against top-seeded Gonzaga (26-6), the 10-time regular-season WCC champions.

Samhan, one of just two seniors in uniform for the Gaels, said he wanted this win "more than anything else in my life."

When the on-court celebration with dozens of their traveling fans finally ended in an arena nearly filled with Gonzaga supporters, the Gaels could finally ponder what they accomplished — even while thinking ahead to a week of celebrations in the verdant East Bay hills.

"The last two years, we've been sitting there on Selection Sunday, hoping and waiting," Samhan said. "One year we were in, one year we weren't. This year, we wanted to make sure."

Saint Mary's won the WCC tournament for just the second time since it began in 1987, beating Gonzaga for the first time in 10 tourney meetings — and it did it with an all-around impressive offensive game that included 68 percent shooting in the second half.

McConnell and Allen hit four 3-pointers apiece, propelling the Gaels to a first-half lead before an electric 18-7 run down the second-half stretch. McConnell credited his offensive flair to his talks with Bennett and Samhan after he failed to score in the Gaels' loss at Gonzaga earlier this season.

"I tried to be aggressive from the get-go, and luckily the shots went in," said McConnell, who jumped over press row to hug his parents before accepting the tournament MVP award. "I got a couple of open looks I wouldn't normally get."

Saint Mary's coach Randy Bennett has been chasing the Gonzaga powerhouse for nearly a decade, establishing a recruiting pipeline to Australia and generally trying anything to become the closest thing to a rival for Gonzaga. When he finally caught the Bulldogs, even for a game, Bennett couldn't believe it just yet.

"It hasn't really set in," Bennett said. "It's not like we've done this a whole bunch of times. I was excited with about a minute left because, hey, we're getting this one done."

Saint Mary's lost 83-58 to Gonzaga in last year's tournament title game in Las Vegas, and subsequently were denied an at-large NCAA berth. But even after losing stars Patty Mills and Diamon Simpson from last year's 28-7 team, these Gaels rebounded from two decisive regular-season losses to the Zags with a landmark victory in school history.

"It's hard to get to this position, and this group was finally able to knock the door down," Bennett said. "It feels great to beat the best team. It makes it a little more special for us."

Steven Gray scored 16 points and Matt Bouldin added 14 for Gonzaga, which had won nine of the last 11 WCC tournaments. Elias Harris managed just eight points on 3 of 13 shooting, and the Bulldogs couldn't match Saint Mary's second-half rally.

Gonzaga likely is still headed back to the NCAAs, but it won't get the WCC's automatic bid for just the third time in 12 years.

"They did lots of penetrating and hitting the 3s," Gray said. "We were getting caught off screens. It hurts to see them (celebrate). There's so many things you wish you could change."

The win was redemption for a string of entertaining teams led by Bennett and dotted with Australians. They've included high-scoring point guard Mills, who failed in his attempt to jump to the NBA this year, and current players Allen, Page and Matthew Dellavedova, who had seven points and six assists.

"We knew we were in for a tough game," Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. "They were hungry and desperate, with an NCAA tournament bid on the line. We didn't do a good job moving the basketball, and Saint Mary's stepped up and just made shot after shot."

While Gonzaga's thousands of traveling fans drowned out the smaller Bay Area contingent before the game, Saint Mary's made an outstanding start. McConnell hit a high-arching 3-pointer from well behind the NBA line to put the Gaels up 12-7 early, and they never trailed in the half while taking 10 more shots than Gonzaga and making just two turnovers.

After Demetri Goodson put the Zags ahead on the first possession of the second half, Saint Mary's moved back ahead 46-40 on McConnell's layup with 12:05 left, and Samhan didn't end up hurting the Gaels when he got a technical foul on the next possession for shoving Robert Sacre out of his way.

"Sacre was talking a lot before the game," Samhan said with a grin. "But we won."

Tournament Championships

The league's regular-season champion did just that Monday night, taking control early and beating third-seeded William & Mary 60-53 in the tournament championship, likely ending the Tribe's feel-good push for the first NCAA tournament appearance in school history.

"We wanted it. We wanted this win really bad," said Old Dominion's Gerald Lee, the tournament's most valuable player. "We know we accomplished something tonight."

Darius James scored 12 points, Kent Bazemore had 10 and the Monarchs (26-8) used the tough defense they hope defines them to shut off William & Mary's bread-and-butter 3-point game. The Tribe made just 9 of 31 3-point attempts, and took several while closely guarded.

Old Dominion won the league's guaranteed bid for the first time since 2005, and will head into the field of 65 for the third time in six years. The Monarchs also went as an at-large team in 2007, and will make their sixth consecutive trip to the postseason.

"These kids were probably better able to measure up to the challenge because they have been somewhere before and I know we wanted to go somewhere better," coach Blaine Taylor said.

Trailing throughout, William & Mary pulled within five with 5 minutes left on Danny Sumner's fifth 3-pointer and two free throws by Quinn McDowell, but Lee hit a 10-foot baby hook from the right baseline with 4:46 to go to end the run, and William & Mary never got closer.

The loss left William & Mary hoping a resume that includes road victories at Wake Forest and Maryland of the Atlantic Coast Conference and Richmond of the Atlantic 10 will impress the selection committee. Otherwise, they seem assured of a berth in the NIT, which would also be somewhat historic; only in 1982 has the Tribe played in a postseason tournament.

"I think we will play somewhere," coach Tony Shaver said. "I don't think the NCAA tournament is something that's going to happen. ... I don't think this team should carry the burden of our past. The team is a team deserving of playing in a national tournament."

William & Mary (22-10) is one of five original Division I schools, along with Army, The Citadel, Northwestern and St. Francis, N.Y., never to have been included in an NCAA field.

Sumner led William & Mary with 19 points, but David Schneider, William & Mary's top scorer and hero of the semifinals victory, struggled, shooting just 2 of 13 from the field. He was 1 for 9 in the semifinals, but his lone basket was the difference in a two-point victory.

The Tribe's problem all night was playing catchup. They trailed 31-24 at halftime and the margin grew to 15 when the Monarchs opened the second half on a 10-2 spurt. It started with a 3-pointer by James and finished with one by Ben Finney, giving ODU its largest lead.

The Tribe responded with seven points in a row, the last five on a dunk and 3-pointer by Sumner, and had pulled to within 47-40 when Finney made his second 3 to stop the burst.

It was one of the few big shots the Monarchs had to hit to stay comfortably ahead, and foiled the strategy the Tribe employed defensively, trying to get the Monarchs to shoot 3s.

"It's not something they normally do real well," Shaver said.

But this time, they did, hitting 7 of 19.

Old Dominion led 31-24 at halftime, mostly on the strength of a 14-3 run midway through the half that extended a 13-11 lead to 27-14. Basemore and James each scored five in the burst, while the Tribe were 1 for 6 from the field and turned the ball over four times.

But the Monarchs scored just four more points in the half, while 3-pointers by Schneider, JohnMark Ludwick and Sumner closed the Tribe within seven at the break.

-- Hank Kurz Jr.

Wofford beats Appalachian St, earns 1st NCAA berth

It was those early experiences that made reaching the NCAA tournament for the first time so sweet.

Cameron Rundles scored 20 points and Wofford used stifling defense to overcome a long second-half scoring drought and beat Appalachian State 56-51 on Monday night for the Southern Conference title.

The school perhaps best known in sports circles as being the training camp home of the Carolina Panthers will soon have a basketball banner to hang.

"We hung in there," said Young, his dress shirt drenched from a celebratory water bath and the cut-down net on the table in front of him. "And to do it in 15 years, Holy Toledo."

Wofford's 13th win in a row didn't come easy, though. The Terriers (26-8) overcome going nearly 10 minutes without a point to deny Appalachian State coach Buzz Peterson an NCAA bid in the first year of his second stint at the school.

Andre Williamson scored 12 points and Ryann Abraham added 11, but the Mountaineers (21-11) shot 29 percent. Their top two scorers — Donald Sims and Kellen Brand — combined to shoot 2 of 23.

"They just really did a good job of taking out of anything we tried to do offensively," Peterson said. "I told Mike and (athletic director) Richard Johnson, go win for the league for us. Go get the league some money. They're playing well enough right now to do that."

It was a new experience for Wofford, which also got 13 rebounds from Tim Johnson. Players danced and sang on the floor after the buzzer, posed for pictures and celebrated the most wins in school history a year after going 16-14.

Even Jerry Richardson, the Wofford alum and owner of the Panthers who put training camp at his alma mater, was in the arena to watch the Spartanburg, S.C., school of just 1,450 students reach a new milestone.

"I saw what he envisioned," Wofford's Noah Dahlman said of Young. "For it to come true ... we took lumps. To come out this year and put it all together, it's what you dream of."

Dahlman had 10 points and eight rebounds and was voted tournament MVP in a season that's included victories over Georgia and South Carolina, the same schools that beat up on Wofford early in its transition from Division II.

"You hang in there and you believe in it," said Young, who replaced Johnson as coach in 2002-03.

Wofford appeared in control when Junior Salters made a 3 on the first possession of the second half to make it 36-18.

But the Terriers then missed 14 straight shots and three free throws, not scoring again until Corey Godzinski's half-hook off an offensive rebound with 9:50 left.

Trouble was, Appalachian State was shooting so poorly itself the comeback was slow. The Mountaineers did get within 48-44 on Abraham's four-point play with 2:24 left.

But Appalachian State missed three of four free throws and Sims' fired up an airball on a 3-point attempt, allowing Wofford to hit enough free throws to hold on as its fans yelled "Let's go dancing!"

It was a bitter return to Time Warner Cable Arena for Peterson, where he spent two seasons as director of player personnel for the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats while working under former college roommate Michael Jordan.

It was part of Peterson's whirlwind after leaving Appalachian following its last NCAA trip in 2000. It included getting fired at Tennessee, turning down a chance to return to Appalachian, and then finally accepting.

Turning around a team that went 13-18 last season, the Mountaineers entered the title game having won 10 of 11. But the shots wouldn't fall.

Brand, who scored a career-high 37 points in Appalachian's semifinal win, was 0 for 8 from the field. Donald Sims, who scored 30 points in the quarterfinals, shot 2 for 15, quieting the partisan Appalachian crowd.

-- Mike Cranston

NCAA-bound Siena tops Fairfield 72-65 in OT

ALBANY, N.Y. — Not even a daunting halftime deficit could derail Siena.