A Tribute to the Seniors, Saint Mary’s Edition: Tim Williams, Kyle Rowley, Paul McCoy, and Mitchell Young

These four seniors have had some of the best careers a Saint Mary’s one can have, in terms of team success. In the last four years, the Gaels have a combined record of 108 wins and 28 loses with 25 wins in each and every season. They have gone to three NCAA tournaments, and one NIT during this 4 year span. Other than maybe Gonzaga, no team in the WCC has experienced more success than Saint Mary’s these past four years. Although Paul McCoy and Kyle Rowley transferred into the program midway through their eligibility, they still have been along for this memorable ride. Here’s a recap of the careers of some of these highly successful seniors of Saint Mary’s.

Out of Antioch, California, Tim Williams was a three star prospect that came to Saint Mary’s with a great deal of high school success. He was a McDonalds All-American Nominee and was ranked the 16th best prospect in the state of California. At Antioch High School, Williams averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds per game. He redshirted his true freshman season, but after that he turned into a key reserve for the Gaels. On the Sweet Sixteen team of 2009, Williams averaged 5.7 minutes per game. In his sophomore season, Williams started to work his way to the middle of the starting lineup. He started the last 26 games for the Gaels, and provided stability at the power forward position. His junior and senior seasons were plagued by knee-injuries that ultimately derailed his College Basketball career. His only appearance of his senior season was on senior night against Santa Clara, where he hit a three-pointer as time expired for his lone points of the season.

Kyle Rowley started his college basketball career at Northwestern, where his playing time was decreasing year by year. As a true freshman, Rowley started 28 of the 31 games for the Wildcats, and as a sophomore he only started 5. He then decided that it would best if he continued playing elsewhere, and decided to go to Moraga, California to play at Saint Mary’s. After sitting out a year because of NCAA Transfer Rules, he worked his way into the Gaels forward rotation. In his senior year, Rowley averaged 5.8 minutes, 2.0 points, and 1.9 rebounds per game.

In his senior year of high school, Paul McCoy, a 5’11” point guard from Portland, Oregon garnered a great deal of attention from colleges. McCoy possessed offers from Virginia, Kentucky and SMU, and elected to become a Mustang. In his freshman year at SMU, McCoy led the Mustangs with 13.4 points per game. His list of accolades during his freshman season is extremely long, and frankly too long to list. However, knee injuries eventually ruined his career. McCoy suffered a season ending knee injury during his sophomore season in a game against Southern Miss. He sat out the next year because of NCAA transfer rules, and was forced to sit out the following year because of a knee injury he suffered in preseason practice. In his fifth and final season, McCoy played sparingly for the Gaels. He scored his first points as a Gael with a lay-up late in the second half against San Diego at McKeon  Pavillion. He scored a career high seven points and four rebounds in seventeen minutes of action against Pepperdine.

In the past decade, Saint Mary’s has been know to have a pipeline to Australia for recruiting there players. Mitchell Young is certainly one of those players. Prior to his stay in Moraga, Young played at the Australian Institute of Sport, where he averaged 9.9 points and 4.0 rebounds per game. Young logged 2,251 minutes for the Gaels and played in 131 games, with 38 starts. In four years, the Australian post player averaged 6.7 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. His career field goal percentage is .556, which is an extremely efficient metric. Young was not particularly known as a scorer at Saint Mary’s, but when he got the chance, he delivered; his field goal percentage is a testament to that.

Although some of these seniors did not have quite the careers at Saint Mary’s that they hoped they would have, there contributions of the program will be everlasting. The Gaels have undergone a great deal of success, due in part to these four seniors. The Saint Mary’s coaching staff is faced with the challenge of replacing McCoy, Rowley, Williams, and Young, in addition their senior point guard, whose tribute is coming at a later date.