St. Mary's tops San Jose State 78-71

From the St. Mary's athletics site:

Saint Mary's overcame a 16-point first half deficit to defeat the San Jose State Spartans 78-71 on Monday night from the Event Center in San Jose, CA. Mickey McConnell led the Gaels with 19 points, as he hit a pair of free throws with 5.9 seconds to ice the game.

Saint Mary's had three players scoring in double figures, as McConnell was the leading scorer for the game, and led the Gaels with eight assists.

Omar Samhan notched his 27th career-double-double, as he had 12 points to go along with a game-high 13 rebounds. Samhan added three blocks, one assists and one steal.

The third player to reach double figures for the Gaels was Wayne Hunter, as he had 16 points after making four 3-pointers.

After the Gaels took an early 5-4 lead, San Jose State went on a 14-2 run to take an 18-7 advantage at the 14:25 mark. The Gaels responded with a run of their own, and erased the 11-point Spartans lead at the 9:42 mark on a put-back by Mitchell Young.

After Saint Mary's tied the game at 21, SJSU regained the lead with a 9-0 run. The run came to an end when Young tipped in his third shot of the half at the 5:30 mark. The Spartans lead reached double figures again when Oakes hit a lay-up with 2:49 on the clock.

The largest lead of the half for SJSU was 16 points (43-27) following a three and a lay-up by Mac Peterson.

Saint Mary's did close the half by outscoring the Spartans 6-2 to enter the locker room trailing by 12 (45-33). The Spartans first half advantage was sparked by 59 percent shooting from the floor. Saint Mary's did a better job against the Spartans in the second half, holding SJSU to 28.1 percent shooting in the final 20 minutes.

After San Jose State scored the first three points of the second half, to extend its lead to 48-33, Saint Mary's went on a 10-0 run over the next three minutes to cut the deficit to five points with 15:11 remaining following a 3-pointer by Ben Allen. Saint Mary's completed the comeback when Steindl and Dellavedova hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions, giving the Gaels a 54-52 advantage with 11:41 remaining. It was the first lead for Saint Mary's since leading 5-4 less than two minutes into the game.

SMC extended its lead to 70-62 at the 4:43 mark on a driving lay-up by Dellavedova off a great pass from Allen. After a SJSU basket, Saint Mary's took its largest lead of the night at 73-64 with 2:50 remaining, on the fourth 3-pointer of the night by Wayne Hunter.

The Spartans made one last push, as they cut the nine-point Gaels lead to 73-69 following a three by Peterson with 1:26 remaining. The Gaels would finish with a pair of free throws by McConnell with 5.9 seconds left to give the Gaels a seven-point win on the road.