Saint Mary’s topples Gonzaga despite Joe Rahon’s late blunder
As Eric McClellan’s potential game-tying free throw rolled off the rim and out, Saint Mary’s guard Joe Rahon pumped his fist, pointed to the sky and smiled.
The missed foul shot transformed the mistake Rahon made a few seconds earlier from a devastating gaffe to merely a harmless funny story.
Under the mistaken impression Saint Mary’s had a foul to give, Rahon intentionally fouled McClellan with 3.7 seconds left and the Gaels ahead by one. Two free throws from the 69.2 percent foul shooter would have given the Zags a late lead and one would have almost certainly sent the game to overtime, but McClellan missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and Saint Mary’s closed out a critical 70-67 victory.
“For some reason I heard, ‘Hey, foul at half court,'” Rahon said on ESPNU at the end of the broadcast. “It’s my fault completely. I blew it. I had a brain fart. I didn’t look up to see how many fouls were on the board. When I foul him, I think it’s a good play, and then everyone’s yelling at me. I was like, ‘Oh gosh. What did I do?’ He ended up missing the free throw, thankfully. Saved my butt on that one.”
The narrow escape by Saint Mary’s snapped an eight-game losing streak against Gonzaga and served as an ending worthy of one of the West Coast’s premier rivalries. Gonzaga has won at least a share of the WCC regular season title every year but one since 2001. Saint Mary’s wrested the title from the Zags in 2012 and have finished no worse than second in the league in 10 of the past 12 seasons.
There’s a good chance the WCC title will belong to either Gonzaga or Saint Mary’s again this season too. The Gaels hold a one-game lead in the loss column over both the Zags and BYU, but they still must travel to both Spokane and Provo this season.
That Saint Mary’s finds itself in WCC title contention is remarkable considering it doesn’t play a single senior and it had to replace all five starters from last season. The Gaels have benefited from a friendly schedule, but that shouldn’t diminish from their 16-2 record that includes home wins against Gonzaga, BYU, Stanford and UC Irvine.
Gonzaga actually led Saint Mary’s by as many as 15 points seven minutes into the second half, but the Zags once again could not close out the game. They’ve now blown double-digit leads in four of their five losses this season, all five of which have come by five or fewer points.
Unusually ineffective offensively in the first half, Saint Mary’s showed why its offense is one of the nation’s most efficient in the game’s final 10 minutes, chipping away at the Gonzaga lead with a barrage of layups and 3-pointers. Rahon had two of the biggest shots, a step-back 3-pointer to cut the deficit to three with just over four minutes to go and a driving layup to give the Gaels their first advantage a couple minutes later.
Saint Mary’s allowed Gonzaga to shoot 59.2 percent from the field, but the Gaels scored at will themselves in the second half and did a good job limiting Kyle Wiltjer to just six points. Emmett Fitzner led Saint Mary’s with 20 points while point guards Emmett Naar and Rahon had 16 and 13, respectively.
There’s now a real possibility that Saint Mary’s can return to the NCAA tournament this season and a real possiblity that Gonzaga could be in some danger if it sustains a couple more losses. Both would probably be in the field if the season ended today, but neither have much margin for error in a WCC that is weaker than previous years.
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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
