The St. Mary's Gaels were in no danger of being bounced from the 2012 NCAA Tournament with a loss in the WCC Tournament Championship against the Gonzaga Bulldogs. Saint Mary's has been too good all season, winning almost all the games they were expected to win this year and finishing 27-5 overall. They were in, it was just a matter of improving their seeding as much as possible so the team could survive to at least the second weekend.
The Gaels did what they needed to against the Bulldogs. They shot the lights on their three pointers early to keep them afloat against an early Gonzaga onslaught; although the three point percentage fell to Earth near the end, those eight triples made a huge difference in this contest. St. Mary's also managed to get to the line 20 times compared to 11 for Gonzaga. But it was their two point efficency that really kept St. Mary's floating, hitting 50% of their shots.
Matthew Dellavedova was one of the main offensive conduits, handling the ball for most of the game while getting 22 points on 21 shots (although he did turn over the ball seven times), but he got ample support from his teammates. Jorden Page put up 16 points as the main outside scoring option, hitting three triples. Rob Jones added 18 points and nine rebounds and Brad Waldow added 13 points and eight rebounds.
This team has multiple options to rely on offensively to keep the Gaels going deep in the 2012 NCAA Tournament if they execute offensively. Getting two point baskets is always paramount, and a few timely threes like what St. Mary's did tonight could make all the difference.