:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/27775687/20140130_pjc_ah2_439.0.jpg)
Saint Mary's is an offensive juggernaut. Ken Pomeroy's adjusted offensive efficiency metric has the Gaels ranked 20th in the nation. They rank fourth in the nation in three point shooting, behind Creighton, Utah State and Gonzaga, connecting on 41.5% of their shots from deep.
San Diego isn't on Saint Mary's level offensively, but the Toreros aren't bad either. Coming into this game they were scoring one point per possession.
These two teams combined to miss their first seven shots. It took nearly three minutes before there were points on the board. Appropriately it was the Toreros' scoring machine Johnny Dee who netted the first bucket. His three at the 17:11 mark gave San Diego the early lead.
Fifty seconds later, Brad Waldow tipped in a Beau Levesque miss to give the Gaels their first points of the game. Both Waldow, 18 points, and Dee, 17 points, would score first and most often as each led their team in points tonight.
Waldow would be especially prolific after that first bucket. The first nine points for Saint Mary's all came from the big man.Unfortunately for the Gaels, he was the only one able to score. It took nearly twelve minutes for any other Gael to record a point. Kerry Carter's basket at the 8:19 mark tied the game at eleven.
Both teams started ice cold but San Diego improved while Saint Mary's did not. Okay, they improved because they didn't miss every shot of the game, but they really stunk it up from the field none-the-less.
Back-to-Back three pointers from Johnny Dee and Duda Sanadze at 5:05 and 4:11 respectively pushed the Toreros out to a 23-11 lead.
Paul McCoy and Beau Levesque each scored a two point basket in the final two minutes to make the Gaels' first half box score look a bit more respectable. However, it still showed just 18 points. San Diego took an eleven point lead into the break.
The second half was more of the same. Saint Mary's shooting improved slightly, but San Diego's did as well, especially from long range.
Saint Mary's came into this game as the nation's third best three point shooting team. Tonight, the Gaels missed their first twelve threes. Dane Pineau hit their first and only shot from deep with 3:35 left to play. At that point the game was all but over.
Not only were the Gaels having trouble from deep, they were unable to score from anywhere but the free throw line.
From 13:25 to 4:15 Saint Mary's scored eight points, all from the charity stripe. Over that span the Toreros scored 14 points. It had to be Brad Waldow that broke the scoreless streak. His lay-up at 4:15 cut the San Diego lead to 18 points, 57-39.
The game can basically be summarized in one play. With one minute left, 5' 7" Christopher Anderson blocked James Walker's shot attempt. It was that kind of night for the Gaels.
With 43 total points, tonight marks the Gaels lowest scoring output since January 15, 2005 against Santa Clara.
San Diego, which struggled through a road-heavy first half of conference play, is coming on strong. The Toreros have eight remaining regular season games. Six of which are at home and the remaining two are in the state of California.
