The St. Mary's Gaels fed Richmond a steady diet of 6-11 senior Omar Samhan to cruise to a surprisingly easy win over the Spiders.  Samhan scored 29 points on 11-of-16 shooting to lead a Gaels side that shot nearly 50 % for the game – this against a Richmond team that held opponents to 43 % shooting on the season. When you're shooting layups and/or getting dunks like Samhan did today, it's pretty easy to shoot such a high percentage.

 

The Big Picture:  Due mostly to the relative obscurity conferred by their West Coast location (which puts them out of the East Coast’s viewfinder), Randy Bennett's squad isn't considered to be one of the more physical teams in college hoops.  As they showed today, the Gaels prefer to throw their weight around near the rim, and not just shoot threes.  St. Mary's pulverized Richmond on the glass, outrebounding the Spiders, 37-15.  The Gaels had more offensive rebounds, 18, than the Spiders had total boards.  That, kids, is complete domination, and it’s why St. Mary's had 21 second-chance points, as opposed to only 4 for Richmond.

As good as Samhan was today, point guard Mickey McConnell was superlative in a difficult match-up against Richmond's outstanding backcourt.  All the junior guard did was drop 23 points on the Spiders, including five 3-point bombs, without so much as taking a breather (McConnell played all 40 minutes).  More importantly, McConnell committed only three turnovers and dished four dimes. 

 

The Good:  What more can we say about Samhan?  Determined to make the most of his trip to the Big Dance after last season's egregious snub, “Big Omar” played like a man possessed.  His massive fast-break dunk with 2:59 remaining in the second half, following a Ryan Butler triple that had cut the Gaels' lead to 70-59, all but crushed the Spiders' comeback hopes.