AP News, February 5th, 2008
Todd Golden hit his sixth 3-pointer of the night with 1:19 left in overtime and Patty Mills scored the final 10 points of regulation and five more in extra time to help No. 25 Saint Mary's beat Gonzaga 89-85 on Monday night.
Golden went 6-for-6 from 3-point range and finished with 19 points, and Mills had 23. Omar Samhan scored five points in OT and finished with 15 for the Gaels (19-3, 6-1), who stayed unbeaten at home at 13-0 in yet another wild game between these West Coast Conference rivals. Saint Mary's also moved into a tie for first place in the conference with Gonzaga.
Diamon Simpson added 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Gaels, who overcame 26-for-42 free-throw shooting to beat the Zags at home in McKeon Pavilion for the third time in four years and second in a row.
Gonzaga's Micah Downs missed short on a 3 that would have tied it with 5 seconds to play.
Jeremy Pargo did everything he could to keep the Zags in it, hitting a tying 3 with 3:17 left and another the next time down to give Gonzaga the lead. He scored nine in OT and finished with 27 points and nine assists for Gonzaga, which had three players foul out during the extra session.
Austin Daye scored 15 points for Gonzaga (17-6, 6-1), which faced a ranked conference opponent for the first time since Jan. 27, 1990, the Loyola Marymount team featuring Bo Kimble and the late Hank Gathers.
Oh how the tides have turned in this rivalry. This time, for a change, it's Saint Mary's that is the ranked team while the Zags are hanging below receiving votes.
Gonzaga needed two overtimes to win at Santa Clara on Saturday night.
"Todd is Golden!" the fans chanted. But the students didn't rush the floor this time as they have in recent wins in this series. Perhaps because the Gaels weren't the underdogs.
This one held up to the thrillers that these teams are known for. Regulation ended in wild fashion at 74-all.
Mills picked off a pass from Daye, drove the length of the floor and converted a go-ahead three-point play with 23.3 seconds left. Pargo scored moments later, then Mills was fouled and missed the first of two free throws — giving Gonzaga another chance. Abdullahi Kuso dunked with 5.9 seconds left and Tron Smith missed an off-balanced attempt just before the buzzer. Kuso would foul out 56 seconds into OT, then Daye and David Pendergraft followed him to the bench.
The Gaels just stayed in the poll this week, dropping four spots after the team's 63-55 loss at San Diego on Jan. 28 that snapped a five-game winning streak.
And it was the regular raucous, standing-room only crowd of more than 3,500 packed into McKeon Pavilion for this nationally televised matchup. Students began their usual chants of "Beat the Zags!" nearly an hour before tipoff in the same building where the Gaels already upset then-No. 12 Oregon back on Nov. 20, and also defeated Drake and Seton Hall.
Gonzaga, which has reached nine straight NCAA tournaments and could get in again even if it doesn't win the WCC tournament, started the season ranked 14th and was picked by the conference's coaches to win an eighth straight regular-season title.
Saint Mary's and Gonzaga will play again March 1 in Spokane during the final weekend of conference action.
In one important sequence late in the first half for the Gaels, Ira Brown stripped the ball away from Mills, who chased down Pargo and stole the ball back, then took it the length of the floor and fed Lucas Walker for a dunk at 3:11 that pulled Saint Mary's to 33-32.
Simpson rebounded a missed free throw by Ian O'Leary and scored the putback, was fouled and converted the three-point play. Saint Mary's shot 47 percent and led 39-37 at halftime.
Andris Biedrins of the Golden State Warriors sat courtside on one baseline.
