WCAC Roundup : St. Mary’s Routs San Diego, 70-45

Reserves Mike Vontoure, who scored 17 points, and James Dailey, who added 13, led St. Mary’s to a 70-45 victory over San Diego Wednesday night in a West Coast Athletic Conference game at Moraga, Calif.

Vontoure, a 5-foot-9 guard, played only 20 minutes but made three three-point shots. He hit a pair of three-pointers in the first half to spark an 8-0 run that gave the Gaels (21-3 overall, 9-2 in the WCAC) an 18-10 lead en route to a 32-16 halftime lead.

“They just exploded on us,” San Diego Coach Hank Egan said. “They are a very good and well-coached team. They are just as good as advertised.

“They make it tough both mentally and physically. They change up defenses on you, and they play a great zone. This (St. Mary’s) is a tournament-bound team, and we need to get back and get this thing together.”

San Diego (6-17, 1-10), which made only 39% of its shots, never got closer than 11 points in the second half.

San Diego pulled to within 38-27 with 15:15 to play, but St. Mary’s outscored the Toreros, 32-18, the rest of the way.

Danny Means hit his third three-pointer with 19 seconds left to finish with 11 points for the Toreros, who were held to their lowest point total of the season in front of 3,125 in McKeon Pavilion.

Robert Haugen added 11 points for the Gaels, and Al Lewis had 10.

St. Mary’s took a half-game lead over idle Pepperdine (8-2 in the conference) in the WCAC race. The Waves play host to Gonzaga Friday night at Malibu.

San Diego lost its fifth consecutive game.

Santa Clara 88, USF 50--Jens Gordon scored 25 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead the Broncos past the Dons at San Francisco.

Nils Becker added 18 points for Santa Clara (17-7, 6-5).

The Broncos, who held a 35-26 halftime lead, limited USF to 27% shooting and controlled the backboards, 56-26.

Joel DeBortoli scored 15 points and had 10 rebounds for USF (13-11, 5-6).