San Francisco drew quiet applause from the rest of the West Coast Conference this week for its 65-64 victory over Saint Mary’s, which gave the Gaels their first defeat in men’s basketball league play and thereby cracked the door open for someone else to possibly insert themselves into the WCC regular-season title chase.
The Gaels (21-4, 11-1) still have a healthy lead in the conference standings, but USF (20-6, 10-3), Gonzaga (18-7, 9-3), Santa Clara (17-9, 9-4) and Oregon State (17-8, 7-5) all still harbor title ambitions.
Meanwhile . . .
— Super Bowl Sunday arrived with five WCC men’s teams among the nation’s top-66, according to the NCAA’s NET computer rankings: 14. Gonzaga; 21. Saint Mary’s; 54. Santa Clara; 61. USF; 66. Oregon State.
— The two top teams in the women’s race survived huge scares. Second-place Portland (21-3, 10-3) overcame an 11-point halftime deficit on the road in a 66-64 win at San Diego. WCC leader Gonzaga (17-8, 12-2) won its 11th straight game but needed a 16-point, 17-rebound effort from Yvonne Ejim to escape with a 73-69 overtime victory over regional rival Washington State.
— Gonzaga senior Ryan Nembhard needed just 25 games to break the single-season program record for assists he established a year ago in 35 games. Nembhard dished nine more in a 78-61 win at Pacific to reach 246, and now sets his sights on the WCC record of 284 assists, set by Emmett Naar of Saint Mary’s in 2018-19. Nembhard, who leads the NCAA at 9.9 per game, said setting records has never been an emphasis. “Just kind of went out there hooping and trying to win games for the squad, but that’s definitely a super special accomplishment.”
LAST WEEK’S BIG THING: Washington State’s Ethan Price found himself on ESPN’s Sports Center late Saturday night after blocking a 3-point shot by Pepperdine’s Stefan Todorovic at the buzzer to clinch an 87-86 victory. LeJuan Watts scored the go-ahead basket off pass from Nate Calmese with 11 seconds left before Price spoiled the night for Todorovic, who already had scored 30 points for the third time this season. “He’s our steadiness,” first-year coach David Riley said of Price, according to the Spokesman-Review, “and this team needs a lot of that.”
THIS WEEK’S BIG THING, PART 1: The two teams in a virtual tie for second place in the WCC men’s standings will meet for the first time this season on Thursday when USF visits Gonzaga for an 8 p.m. tip on ESPN. The Dons have won four in a row, including the big one against Saint Mary’s. The Zags won all three meetings a year ago and are 11-1 at home this season. The teams will meet in the rematch at Chase Center in San Francisco on Saturday, March 1, the final day of the regular season.
THIS WEEK’S BIG THING, PART 2: On the women’s side, Gonzaga has won 11 straight games since a 71-67 home defeat to Oregon State. The Zags were 6-8 overall, 1-2 in conference play after that Dec. 28 loss. Now alone in first place in the WCC standings with a record of 17-8, 12-2, the Zags get a rematch on Thursday night in Corvallis. The fourth-place Beavers (13-13, 9-6) have won four in a row. Tipoff is 6 p.m. on ESPN+.
DONS GET IT DONE: There was a moment last Thursday night when USF coach Chris Gerlufsen knew things could get away from the Dons against WCC leader Saint Mary’s.
“They were up 11 with about 10 minutes left . . . some of the teams I’ve been with in the past probably would have broke,” Gerlufsen said. “Credit to the guys who are just continuing to talk the right way and just staying the course. Forty minutes and sure enough we found our way a little bit offensively and strung some stops together.”
The Dons’ 65-64 victory snapped an 11-game losing streak to Saint Mary’s, halted the Gaels’ NCAA-leading 15-game road win streak and stretched USF’s home-court perfection to 15-0 this season.
The outcome also gave the Dons and others some oxygen in their pursuit of the Gaels, who previously enjoyed a three-game lead in the loss column over the rest of the WCC.
USF did what few teams have achieved, outrebounding the Gaels 38-35. “You out-rebound Saint Mary’s,” Gerlufsen said, “and they’re one of the best rebounding teams in the country, if not the best.”
The Dons also held Saint Mary’s to uncharacteristic 3-for-23 shooting from the 3-point arc. Marcus Williams led the offense with 16 points and sixth man Ryan Beasley provided 12 points and aggressive defense.
“It’s about the guys and the feeling they had going into the locker room after the game. That’s one of the reasons you coach, to experience those things,” Gerlufsen said of the post-game emotions.
“It’s a great win at home — we’ve continued to protect home floor. We’re taking great pride in that. I think this is one of the best places to play in the country. People have gotten behind that and they lift us. But you have to have a different mentality when you go on the road.”
The Dons were back on the road Saturday night, securing a 72-66 win at LMU. Williams scored 19 points and Beasley — averaging 14.0 over the past four games — provided a season-high 18.
GAELS BOUNCE BACK: There was no secret to why Saint Mary’s lost its first WCC game, coach Randy Bennett said. “We can’t go 3-for-23 (from 3-point range) and expect to beat anybody good,” he said. “We didn’t defend well enough in the second half and we didn’t shoot the ball well and we got beat on the boards.”
The Gaels emphatically stopped the bleeding on Saturday night at Oregon State, flexing their defense in a 63-49 victory. It was the 10th time in 12 conference games they limited their opponent to 60 points or fewer and the seventh time they held a WCC team under 40 percent shooting.
Saint Mary’s also got huge performances from its two star seniors, with point guard Augustas Marciulionis contributing 18 points, 10 assists and four steals and center Mitchell Saxen adding 15 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots. The two combined to shoot 13 for 17.
BRONCOS SEEK A RE-SET: Santa Clara beat San Diego 93-70 for its third straight win by at least 23 points, giving the Broncos welcome momentum heading into a Tuesday night road rematch vs. Saint Mary’s. Santa Clara hasn’t lost since a 67-54 home loss to the Gaels on Jan. 29 where the final score belied what transpired.
On that night, the Broncos led 24-22 with 3:14 left in the first half when Saint Mary’s began a stunning 30-0 run to turn the game on its head. By the time the dust settled, the Gaels had a 52-24 lead and most of the air had left the Leavey Center.
UNCOMMON BALANCE: Santa Clara has found itself with a current seven-game stretch that has seen seven different players lead the Broncos in scoring over that span.
Here’s the rundown: Tyeree Bryan 35 points vs. Gonzaga, Johnny O’Neil 17 vs. Washington State, Adama-Alpha Bal 13 vs. Oregon State, Carlos Stewart Jr. 24 vs. Saint Mary’s, Christoph Tilly 19 vs. Pacific; Camaron Tongue 19 vs. Portland and Elijah Mahi 28 points vs. San Diego.
ZAGS’ HOT-SHOOTING FRESHMAN: Gonzaga’s Allie Turner leads the nation’s freshmen in 3-points baskets (72) and 3-pointers per game (2.88). Her 72 threes rank fifth among players nationally and her 43.1-percent accuracy from deep is second among freshmen, just back of NIU’s Lexi Carlsen (43.6 percent).
The 5-foot-8 native of St. Louis has made at least one 3-point in all but two games and has hit three or more in a game 15 times.