San Diego Defeats Ice Cold Saint Mary’s

March 8, 2013; Las Vegas, NV, USA; San Diego Toreros guard Johnny Dee (1, top) celebrates against the Brigham Young Cougars during the second half in the quarterfinals of the West Coast Conference tournament at Orleans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

The San Diego Toreros played their usual stout defense as they defeated the Saint Mary’s Gaels by a score of 61-43.  Johnny Dee led the Toreros with 17 points, while Dennis Kramer and Duda Sanadze each added 14 points.  Kramer pulled down 8 rebounds while Jito Kok added 7 rebounds and 3 blocks.

Saint Mary’s had every single player on the roster struggle except for their center Brad Waldow, who had 18 points on 6/12 shooting and 9 rebounds.  Beau Levesque had 9 rebounds as well in only 16 minutes of play.  James Walker added 9 points on 7/9 free throw shooting, but no other Gael had more than 4 points.

San Diego jumped out to a 29-18 halftime lead and only expanded the lead in the second half.  Saint Mary’s was never in the game in the second half, and the Toreros ended with an easy victory.

KEYS TO THE GAME REVISITED

San Diego

✓ – Johnny Buckets needs more help: Sanadze, Kramer, and Christopher Anderson all had relatively good shooting nights and were able to supplant Johnny Dee on the offensive end, despite the fact that Dee once again led the Toreros in scoring.  While the bench was still limited in offensive contribution, it should be expected at this point and the Torero’s can just hope that Sanadze, Kramer, Anderson are able to scorer near 10 points per game which they usually do at this point.

Saint Mary’s

X – Bench play: While Saint Mary’s did not get any key contributions off the bench, it was 4 out of the 5 starters’ performance that was the main issue for the Gaels. Garrett Jackson did make his first appearance since the Diamond Head Classic in Hawaii, no one off the bench was able to be a scoring threat.

STATS OF THE NIGHT

12.9%: Saint Mary’s had four starters (Stephen Holt, Beau Levesque, James Walker III, and Kerry Carter) who combined to shoot 4/31 from the field, good for around 13%.  That is absolutely unacceptable for all 4 of them to struggle simultaneously.  Saint Mary’s will beat no one in the WCC with that kind of offensive output from 4 double figure scorers.

7.1%: Another Gael shooting percentage.  While Saint Mary’s had shot around 40% on three pointers so far this season, they shot 1/14 from beyond the arc, and that one came from Dane Pineau, not one of their primary shooters.  Cold streaks from the outside are the one thing that could hurt this team come March.

KEY MATCHUP

Stephen Holt vs. Johnny Dee:  This matchup turned out to be very one-sided. Dee continued his hot streak while Holt had his 2nd consecutive bad shooting game. The difference in play between these two leaders explains why San Diego was able to win this game so easily.

MOVING FORWARD

Saint Mary’s will have to get their offensive in order quickly or else BYU will run them out of the gym on Saturday.  BYU scored 88 points on Thursday while Saint Mary’s scored only 43.  Granted, the pace of play might have been slower for the Gaels than it was for the Cougars, but they will still need a much better offensive performance from most of their starters.

San Diego has proven to be one of the best defensive teams in the league.  While their offense is not up to speed with many WCC teams, they should be able to hold down last place Pacific on Saturday.