MORAGA — Saint Mary’s saw its streak end, not its season.
That was the 17th-ranked Gaels’ mindset after a 70-57 loss to No. 23 Gonzaga on Saturday night that snapped their 16-game win streak and denied them their first-ever perfect West Coast Conference season.
“It definitely hurts to not make history. We’re not playing for an undefeated conference season, necessarily,” senior center Mitchell Saxen said. “One of our goals is regular-season champs, which we accomplished. Another one is (WCC) tournament champs.”
Saint Mary’s (24-7, 15-1) already had locked up the regular-season crown and No. 1 seed entering the WCC tournament. The Gaels have a nine-day wait for their semifinal assignment in Las Vegas, and coach Randy Bennett said they will spend no energy reflecting on what they’ve achieved so far.
“You better be careful on that,” he said. “Don’t start looking at what your accomplishments are right now. You’ve got work to do. You have to move forward. You can’t let this wreck your confidence — we won’t. The main thing is we have to get better.”
A month after taking control of the WCC race by beating the Zags 64-62 in Spokane, the Gaels weren’t good enough in the rematch, played before an overflow home crowd. Gonzaga used a 14-0 run to forge a 44-28 halftime lead, and Saint Mary’s could not deliver any sustained comeback.
“We didn’t play well tonight,” said Bennett, citing shortcomings both on offense and defense.
Up in Spokane, Saint Mary’s took away Gonzaga’s transition game, which fuels its high-powered offense. But 13 turnovers by the Gaels in this one allowed the Zags to score 15 fastbreak points.
“Our keys are always don’t turn the ball over and keep them out of transition,” Bennett said. “You can’t make it easy for them and we did tonight.”
Coach Mark Few said the Zags (24-6, 14-2) are playing their best basketball of the season.
“To come into this environment against this team, who I have massive amounts of respect for, just how they compete and how prepared they are, it’s a heck of a win,” he said.
Gonzaga junior forward Ike Graham, making his case for WCC Player of the Year, had 24 points and 10 rebounds, his seventh straight game of at least 20 points. Point guard Ryan Nembhard delivered 20 points, 10 assists and just one turnover in 40 minutes.
By comparison, none of the Gaels was at his best. Sophomore Aidan Mahaney scored 16 points, but needed 19 shots to do it.
Saxen scored 13 points, but said his defensive play was subpar. “I’ve got to guard Ike a lot better,” Saxen said. “He’s a tough cover, but not unguardable by any means.”
As good as the Zags were this weekend — also beating USF 86-68 at the Chase Center on Thursday — the Gaels are conceding nothing. The two programs who have dominated the WCC for 20 years figure to meet again a week from Tuesday in the WCC tournament title game.
“I don’t think they’re a better team than us,” Saxen said. “They played better tonight, but I think we can get right back at it.”
The Gaels began this season 3-5, then won 21 of 22 before Saturday night to virtually assure themselves a place in the NCAA Tournament.
Bennett isn’t worried that one game will dent his players’ confidence.
“I don’t think you go from being good to bad that quick. They’ve built it, built it, built it,” Bennett said. “The reason we’ve been able to do what we’ve done is because their leadership is pretty good.
“The main thing is we have to get better. Hopefully, we’ll have weeks to keep playing.”