Saint Mary’s relishes win over No. 9 Gonzaga in final WCC matchup of classic rivalry

MORAGA — There was a lot to unpack after Saint Mary’s beat No. 9 Gonzaga 70-59 in front of a deafening home crowd and national ESPN audience in their final regular-season meeting as West Coast Conference rivals.

For coach Randy Bennett, one thing stood above all else. “We won the conference championship,” he said. “That’s a big deal.”

Four in a row, in fact. The Gaels and Zags shared the 2023 regular-season crown before Saint Mary’s won outright titles back-to-back the next two seasons.

This one seemed like a reach on Jan. 31, after the Zags beat the Gaels 73-65 at Spokane to generate a two-game lead on them in the standings. The WCC’s heavyweight for a quarter-century, Gonzaga appeared on its way to an outright championship in its farewell season before joining the rebuilt Pac-12 next year.

“I think it’s a testament to the consistency of the program and coach Bennett,” said sophomore guard Mikey Lewis, who scored a career-high 31 points on Saturday night. “Winning four (titles) in a row is hard. We were two games back and we never said it out loud, but we knew to get back in this position we’d have to win out.”

The Gaels didn’t lose again, going 8-0 in February, including an 86-67 win over Santa Clara on Wednesday that avenged an earlier defeat and set up Saturday’s showdown.

“We got a lot accomplished this week,” Bennett acknowledged.

The Gaels (27-4, 16-2) earned their first Quad 1 victory and completed an unblemished 17-0 home schedule, which stretched their ongoing program record to 26 consecutive victories at University Credit Union Pavilion. They improved their head-to-head record against the Zags to 6-5 over the past four seasons.

Saint Mary’s will be the No. 2 seed at the WCC tournament, which begins Thursday at Las Vegas. That gives the Gaels a bye through to the semifinals on Monday. Gonzaga (28-3, 16-2) is the No. 1 seed.

Regardless of what happens at Orleans Arena, the Gaels are virtually assured of their fifth consecutive NCAA tournament bid. They were No. 22 in the NET computer rankings before the Gonzaga victory and sure to climb a few spots as a result.

“It feels amazing,” said Lewis, an Oakland native. “That was exhilarating. I mean, the atmosphere in there . . . obviously, winning makes it so much better. But that was some of the most fun I’ve ever had playing basketball.”

Point guard Joshua Dent, who scored 14 points, got a sense of what the capacity crowd of 3,500 was ready to bring to the evening when Lewis buried a 3-pointer on the Gaels’ first possession.

“When Mikey hit that corner 3, I thought my ears were about to start bleeding,” the sophomore from Australia said. “When we start making 3s and go on our little runs, this place is a jungle.”

The Gaels trailed 36-29 at halftime, despite four 3-pointers and a career-high 12 points from Lithuanian freshman Mantas Juzenas, who averages just 1.7 points. “He kept us in it,” Lewis said.

Lewis led the second-half onslaught, scoring 21 points, including five of his seven 3-pointers. The Gaels shot 16 for 33 from the arc, outscoring the Zags 48-15 from deep.

I think we’re able to jump teams early in the second half and just make it hard for them,” Dent said. “We get them to call early timeouts, we get the crowd involved and smash ‘em on the rebounds.”

Ranked fifth nationally in rebound margin, the Gaels were on the short end of a 22-18 rebound count in the first half. They won the boards 24-15 over the final 20 minutes, outscoring the Zags 11-0 on second-chance points.

The Gaels’ defense also tightened up, with the tag-team center duo of Harry Wessels and Andrew McKeever limiting Zags star forward Graham Ike to four of his 17 points before he fouled out with 3:45 to play.

The Gaels and Zags would meet again in the WCC tournament title game a week from Tuesday if they both win in the semifinals. Bennett would welcome one more duel with Zags coach Mark Few, their 72nd over 25 seasons.

“I love that game. You just don’t get that many,” Bennett said. “If you can be a part of that, it’s special.”