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Las Vegas, NV – The semifinals of the West Coast Conference tournament took place tonight with Pepperdine trying for their fourth win in four days as they faced top-seed St. Mary’s. In the second game San Francisco took on No. 2-seed Gonzaga. Both favored teams won and St. Mary’s and Gonzaga will face for the WCC tournament title for the fourth straight year, and the sixth time in the last seven years.
In the opener St. Mary’s showed why they are one of the top defensive and rebounding teams in the nation, shutting down a hot Pepperdine team and ran way with an 74-59 win. They held the Waves to 39% shooting overall and only 20% (5-of-18) on three-pointers. Paulius Murauskas scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the winners. Point guard Augustas Marciulionis also scored 15 points and added seven rebounds and five assists with no turnovers. Luke Barrett added 13 + 8. Moe Odum led the Waves with 19 points.
Pepperdine’s (13-22) Odum continued his hot shooting early, scoring ten points as the Waves took a 18-13 lead. The Gaels came right back, going on a 10-point run to take a 5-point lead. Four straight points from 6-8 Lithuanian forward Murauskas extended St. Mary’s lead to 30-21. They maintained that lead the rest of the half, going into the break with a 39-29 lead. Barrett was all over the court for the Gaels scoring nine points and adding seven rebounds. Marciulionis also scored nine points. Odum led the Waves with 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
St. Mary’s came into the game rated No. 11 in defensive efficiency according to Kenpom and they made it tough for Stefan Todorovic to get off an uncontested shot. Todorovic, averaging 24 points over the first three games, scored eight points in the half on only 2-of-9 shooting. He finished the game with ten points on 3-of-14 from the field.
In the second half, a lay-in after an offensive rebound by Murauskas extended the Gaels’ lead to 48-33. The lead was 21 points (59-38) at the under 12-minute time out and St. Mary’s didn’t look back. They led by as many as 28 points (68-40) and coasted to the win, resting their starters for tomorrow’s title game. Pepperdine closed the game on a 14-2 run, making the final score closer than it could have been.
The Gaels came in as one of the top rebounding teams in the country, rated No. 2 with a 40.2 offensive rebounding percentage. They also limit their opponents to a 25.1 offensive rebounding percentage (ranked No. 15). That advantage was evident tonight as in the first half the Gaels had a 25-12 rebounding edge with an 8-4 edge on the offensive glass. For the game St. Mary’s outrebounded the Waves 45-22, including 15-7 on the offensive boards.
In the second game, Gonzaga faced a San Francisco squad that was missing their starting point guard, Marcus Williams, who was out of action due to a possible NCAA rules violation. Ryan Beasley, starting in place of Williams, got the Dons off to a decent start by scoring their first seven points. Michael Ayayi came off the bench to give a boost to the Zags with two strong dunks. Back-to-back three-pointers from Junjie “Barry” Wong gave the Dons a 29-24 lead. A three-pointer from Beasley (10 first half points) gave USF a 37-35 halftime lead. Grahan Ike led the Dons with 10 points and seven rebounds. Ayayi played well and provided energy, ending the half with nine points and seven boards.
Ike scored eight straight points for the Zags starting the second half as the Zags took a 43-39 lead. Khalif Battle then got hot, hitting a three-pointer midway through the half to give the Zags a 59-53 lead. A dunk by the Dons’ Tyrone Riley cut the lead to 60-59 with under eight minutes left. Five quick points by Ike extended the Zags lead to 67-61. Gonzaga (24-8) was solid the rest of the game and closed out with an 85-76 win over San Francisco (24-9).
Graham Ike led the Zags with 27 points and ten rebounds. Battle added 21 points (3-of-6 3’s) and Ryan Nembhard added eight assists against only one turnover. Malik Thomas led the Dons with 27 points (5-of-8 3’s), eight rebounds and four assists.
This article was written by Carl Berman, Managing Partner of NetScouts Basketball. You can follow us on Facebook, or on twitter.
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