WCC Semi-finals: St. Mary’s, Pepperdine, Gonzaga, and San Francisco

St. Mary’s vs Pepperdine:

The West Coast Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament Semifinals have St. Mary’s, Gonzaga, Pepperdine, and San Francisco battling it out for the automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.

In the first game it was St. Mary’s and Pepperdine.

Pepperdine came into this game as the Cinderella team. Nobody expected the Waves to be this far along in the conference tournament based on their regular season. Here they are though. Pepperdine has beaten Portland, Oregon State, and Santa Clara on their way to Monday nights game with top seeded St. Mary’s.

Early on Pepperdine showed the grit and determination that got them to this position in the tournament. The Waves showed no fear.

The Waves point guard, Moe Odum, showed a ton of confidence by hitting shots from all distances and setting up his teammates for some easy scoring opportunities. Pepperdine got up 18-13 with just under 12 minutes left in the first half. You had to wonder how long this unwavering confidence was going to last.

Almost on cue, St. Mary’s came alive and flipped the switch.

Over the course of the next few minutes the Gaels went from five points down to five points up. The lead was extended to 10 points by halftime with St. Mary’s up 39-29 on Pepperdine.

As the second half started you knew Pepperdine had to play with a high sense of urgency. They were going to put pressure on the ball and try and create turnovers. Creating those turnovers was going to be tough because St. Mary’s was not giving up possessions. They only had two turnovers in the first half.

St. Mary’s was simply wearing down the Waves. The 10 point halftime lead for the Gaels ballooned to 19 points with about 11:30 left in the game. Pepperdine’s shooting was becoming an issue as was the defense that St. Mary’s was throwing on Pepperdine.

With about eight minutes to go in the game it was all over. St. Mary’s was 28 and all that was left was shaking hands at the end of the game.

St. Mary’s moves onto the West Coast Conference Championship Game with a 74-59 win.

Gonzaga vs San Francisco:

This game was the #2 Gonzaga Bulldogs and the #3 San Francisco Dons. The winner would get to face top seed St. Mary’s on Tuesday night.

The excitement of the Bulldogs taking the court for the first time in the tournament was incredible. Not sure there was a contingent of San Francisco fans in the building because it was a pro Gonzaga crowd.

However, the Dons were not intimidated in the least. San Francisco was matching the Bulldog intensity. This was a matchup that Gonzaga won by 20 the last time these two teams competed against one another.

San Francisco jumped out first to a 7-4 lead. Gonzaga then took the lead for a few minutes in a frantic stretch of possessions. Both teams getting up and down the floor, but not converting anything into points. With a free throw the Bulldogs had a 21-20 lead with 8:35 left in the first half.

The key to getting control of this game was to be in control of your game plan. Both teams wanted to push tempo, put pressure on the ball, and limit turnovers. Easier said than done in a game like this with so much on the line.

At the half San Francisco held a two point lead 37-35. The Dons had pretty balanced scoring with their point guard, Ryan Beasley, leading the way with 10 points. San Francisco guard, also was contributing with nine points and six rebounds.

Gonzaga was struggling from the field by shooting 37% on 13-35 from the field. They also only shot eight three pointers and were 2-8 from behind the arc. The only area that the Bulldogs were better than the Dons was with turnovers. Gonzaga only turned the ball over four times while San Francisco turned the ball over eight times.

At the 17:43 mark of the second half Gonzaga took the lead. This lead vacillated between three and six points. The other area that Gonzaga was improving on was their shooting. Four minutes into the second half the Bulldogs shooting percentage shot up five percent. They were getting good looks and converting those opportunities.

Things got real interesting once we got to 8:30 mark of the second half. The Gonzaga lead was down to two points with the Dons pushing the Bulldogs on every possession to try and keep up. San Francisco had the opportunity to tie the game at 62, but the free throw went left and out.

With a little five point run the Bulldogs opened up a six point lead with 6:15 left in the game. Five points is not much and the Dons took a time out to try and take the momentum away from Gonzaga.

Did it work?

It did not work. Gonzaga took control of the game in the last five minutes of the game. Eventually getting the Bulldog lead to 10. From there it was a matter of some garbage time scoring and when the final buzzer sounded it was Gonzaga with the 85-76 victory.

This sets up the showdown everyone wants to see with the top seeded St. Mary’s on Tuesday night at 6pm.

Michael J. Wilson-The Daily Waiver

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