Flashback Friday: The Dellavedagger
By Josh Horton
Matthew Dellavedova had a lot of great moments at Saint Mary’s College. However, this one might be the most memorable. On January 16th, The Gaels traveled to Provo to take on BYU in a budding rivalry matchup. Unfortunately for the BYU faithful, they left this game shocked and in disbelief of what they just saw. Let’s take a closer look, shall we?
With about 20 seconds to go in the second half, Saint Mary’s and BYU were deadlocked at 67. Stephen Holt had put together a very good night, scoring 22 points off of 8-16 shooting. Dellavedova also had 8 assists, and was distributing the basketball at a very high level. On the BYU side of things, Tyler Haws had been scoring at will. Haws had 23 points on 8 of 16 shooting. The Cougars found themselves with the ball in the last 20 seconds, and everyone in the building knew who the last shot was going to be taken by Haws.
After BYU point guard Matt Carlino dribbled about 15 seconds off the clock, Haws took the ball on the right wing, dribbled to just in front of the free throw line and nailed an off balance jumper that put the Cougars up by a score of 69-67. Most people would think of that as the nail in the coffin for SMC, but this ended up not being the case.
Saint Mary’s forward Beau Levesque immediately inbounded the ball to Dellavedova, who was streaking down the right side of the court. Dellavedova then takes one dribble, which was subsequently followed by two steps and a running shot. The shot that Dellavedova seemingly hurled at the rim swished through the net, and the BYU crowd goes so silent that you could hear a pin drop.
The best part about this shot – other than it being nicknamed “the Dellavedagger” – is how unconventional it was. It looked like the type of shot that you huck up in a pickup game with your buddies. However, the end of games bring out unbelievable circumstances, and that is exactly what happened in this game. This game will be one of the WCC instant classics for years to come.
Fun Fact: Saint Mary’s is the second team in the Dave Rose era to beat the Cougars in the Marriott center two years in a row, with New Mexico being the other team.