Saint Mary's edges past Broncos, 69-64

By The Associated Press

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E.J. Rowland wanted to show that Saint Mary's is better than Santa Clara despite two regular-season losses to the Broncos.

The Gaels won when it mattered.

Paul Marigney scored five of his 20 points in the final 1:18 and Saint Mary's rallied in the second half to beat its Bay Area rival 69-64 Sunday night, reaching the West Coast Conference championship game with their fifth straight victory.

Marigney also grabbed 10 rebounds as the Gaels avenged two regular-season losses to the Broncos and improved their strong case for the school's first NCAA tournament bid since 1997, when they lost in the first round to Wake Forest.

"This is more of a pride thing," said Rowland, the Gaels' senior guard. "They beat us twice, but we think we're better than they are. We won it on their court and showed they're not better."

Daniel Kickert scored all 16 of his points after halftime, going 10-for-10 from the free throw line and grabbing six rebounds after sitting early with foul trouble.

Marigney made a putback with 1:18 to go, but converted only one of two free throws at 41.6. He hit two more free throws with 14 seconds left to cap a dramatic final few minutes that featured two key misses by Santa Clara star Kyle Bailey.

The Gaels (25-7) won for the sixth time in seven games despite shooting 30.2 percent.

They converted 34 of 42 free throws in front of a raucous crowd for the nationally televised game at the Leavey Center, Santa Clara's home arena.

Saint Mary's students rushed the floor after the final buzzer to celebrate.

The Gaels play top-seeded and 12th-ranked Gonzaga on Monday night for an automatic NCAA tournament berth after the Zags routed San Diego 90-74 in Sunday's early game to reach the final for the eighth straight season.

"It's a relief," Marigney said. "We made it to the finals last year, but that was last year."

Saint Mary's lost to Gonzaga 84-71 in last year's WCC tournament championship game after the Bulldogs eliminated Santa Clara in the semis.

Gonzaga will earn its seventh straight NCAA bid even if it loses Monday. The WCC has sent two teams to the tournament only five times in the last 15 years and has never sent three.

Star players for both Saint Mary's and Santa Clara struggled all night to make shots and there were so many fouls called neither could establish much momentum. There were 59 total fouls called and 65 free throws attempted.

Saint Mary's twice built a 10-point lead in the second half, including 61-51 on Marigney's two free throws at 5:12, but Santa Clara (15-16) scored 10 unanswered points to tie the game on Travis Niesen's putback dunk with 2:38 remaining.

This has evolved into a heated Bay Area rivalry -- and the referees called just about everything in an attempt to keep things under control. Niesen and Kickert are two of the conference's feistiest players. Kickert rolled his left ankle late in the second half, but returned after being taped. He later limped out of the arena with the assistance of one crutch.

The Gaels made just one of their first 16 3-point attempts, then hit back-to-back 3s to pull within 39-37 with 12:44 left. Kickert hit the first one after a nearly 5-minute scoring drought.

After Ethan Rohde's 3 made it 44-41 Santa Clara, Saint Mary's scored 11 unanswered points and took the lead on Brett Collins' breakaway dunk with 9:51 remaining.

Santa Clara's Doron Perkins ended a 1-for-14 slump on a basket with 5:15 left, but immediately was whistled for a technical foul for a hit to Marigney's back.

"They made shots hard for me," Perkins said. "It's almost impossible to beat a team three times in a year."

With all three Saint Mary's big men in first-half foul trouble, seldom-used Reda Rhalimi -- who'd played just 51 minutes all season -- gave the Gaels a big boost with seven points and six rebounds, including two putbacks, in 11 minutes.

The Broncos have been inconsistent all season, but their upset of No. 2 North Carolina in November brought the school more national attention than it's had since Steve Nash was running the point.

Coach Dick Davey, in his 13th season, has not received a contract extension, raising doubt about his future with the school. He will meet with athletic department officials next week.

The third-seeded Broncos, who lost last season's meetings in the rivalry by 32 and 30 points, snapped the Gaels' streak of nine straight wins and 11 victories in a row at home with a 65-42 win in January. Santa Clara also took the second meeting, 78-76 at home.