Instant Reaction: SMC beats LATech in Free-Throw contest

Stephen Holt had a solid game in his first game replacing Dellavedova. (Courtesy of Andrew Nguyen)

Stephen Holt had a solid game in his first game replacing Matthew Dellavedova. (Courtesy of Andrew Nguyen)

After a lackluster first half that saw LA Tech find open looks and drain them, SMC ran away with the 83-70 victory, primarily due to a strong effort by Brad Waldow and Steven Holt. With that, here are five takeaways from the game:

1. Captain Holt.

Steven Holt came up big in this game, and he did it without much fan fare. Couple of steals here and there, a couple of defensive rebounds, a three pointer here, a three pointer there, and the final stats come out to: 18 points, 6 assists, and 8 rebounds. Biggest take away from me: 3/4 three pointers. All well-taken, nothing forced. If Holt’s shooting woes from last year are behind him, replacing Dellavedova won’t be as hard as people thought. It helps when you have …

2. Brad Waldow

Waldow singlehandly kept the Gaels in the game as the Bulldogs blitzed early on. A lot of put backs, solid post moves, soft hands, and strong dunks. 6/8 from the line is monster as well as he had a few 3- point plays. Great on the defensive end too.

3. Calvin Hermanson DNP

Ankle problem kept Gaels top recruit from seeing game action. Will be interesting to see what he can contribute, as none of the players who played yesterday played bad.

4. LA Tech is good.

They play a fun brand of basketball and, had they not run out of steam and perhaps made a few more free throws, could have made it a battle to the end. Credit to the Gaels for finding a way to beat a difficult team.

5. WBK Shout out

One of my favorite players to watch in college hoops is Lady Gaels guard Jackie Nared. While a lot of players in women’s hoops are fundamentally sound, Nared has that natural ability to just dominate a game and it is a lot of fun to watch. Nared scored a career high 37 as the Gaels used a 28-8 run to knock off the visiting Washington Huskies.