St. Mary's romps

Matthew Dellavedova went for 31 points and Brad Waldow 21 in St, Mary's 120-67 bopping of Jackson State. Redshirt freshman point Jordan Giusti added seven assists for the Gaels.

In his return to the Bay Area, Christian Williams totaled 14 points for the Magnolia Staters.

St. Mary's over Cal Poly

In Moraga, St. Mary's handled Cal Poly 86-68 as Brad Waldow went for 17 points plus five boards for the Gaels. Mustang backcourter Drake U'u enjoyed an eight point, four assist night.

Pacific over the Gaels

Pacific surprised St. Mary's 76-66 last night in Anaheim as a pair of former Santa Rosa Junior College backcourters paced the effort. Lorenzo McCloud led the Tigers with 18 points, plus three assists while Sama Taku posted 11 points and a team-leading six rebounds.

Brad Waldow had eight points and five boards for the Gaels.

The streak continues for the Gaels

St. Mary's handled Drexel 76-64 down in Anaheim behind 32 points from Matthew Dellavedova. Frontcourter Brad  Ponderosa High)  Waldow post 15 points plus seven boards for the Gaels.

Press for Brad Waldow

Bill Paterson makes note of Brad Waldow's season at St. Mary's and the Gaels participation in the Big Dance today.

St. Mary's handles Gonzaga (again)

Rob Jones' 18 points, nine rebounds and three steals, 13 points and eight boards from Brad Waldow, plus three points and a pair of rebounds from Beau Levesque in 10 minutes helped power St. Mary's to the WCC tournament championship over Gonzaga by the score of 78-74. The Gaels are Big Dancin'.

St. Mary's 83, USF 78

Rob Jones and Brad Waldow totaled 11 points/13 rebounds/five assists and 12 points/six boards respectively as St. Mary's got past USF 83-78 last night. Angelo Caloiaro had an off-shooting night for the Dons but still contributed seven rebounds and six assists. It's the Gaels versus Gonzaga tonight for the West Coast Conference tournament championship.

Jones & Caloiaro honored

Congrats to Rob Jones and Angelo Caloiaro for being named to the WCC All Conference team, plus a shout out to Brad Waldow for garnering a spot on the All-Conference Freshman squad.

St. Mary's 67, USF 60

Led by Rob Jones 14/14 double-double plus Brad Waldow's own 10/12 double-double, the visiting Gaels proved to be seven points better than the Dons tonight. Angelo Caloiaro posted a line of 12 points, right rebounds and five assists, the latter two numbers the best on the USF team for the night.

St. Mary's has no trouble with SC

St. Mary's bounced right back defeating Santa 82-67 powered by 25 points and 12 boards from Rob Jones. Brad Waldow contributed eight points, seven boards and three blocked shots. Niyi Harrison posted 12 markers and six rebounds for the Broncos. SC's Kevin Foster again did not play.

St. Mary's over San Diego

It was another win for the host Gaels, 84-73, last night against San Diego as Rob Jones scored 28 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Brad Waldow went for 10/5. Ken Rancifer scored 12 points for the Toreros.

St. Mary's handles San Diego

28 points from Rob Jones paced the Gaels to an 84-73 victory over San Diego. Jones added eight boards while teammate Brad Waldow posted 10 points and five rebounds.

It's not magic

No, it isn't magic. Maybe there is some degree of luck involved and once might be a fluke but twice in such a short period of time simply cannot be ignored.

That being St. Mary's first extending a scholarship offer to Omar Samhan (even if it wasn't a beat-down-the-door-we-have-to-have-him signing) and then enjoying the bountiful fruits of his labors in gaining national respect and attention for the program.

There probably wasn't anyone short of the Samhan home crew who foresaw the blossoming of Omar but credit goes to the Gaels for wanting him and taking the chance.

Now, it's Brad Waldow time. He redshirted last year after coming out of little Shingle Springs and is now an integral cog in St. Mary's being on top in the West Coast Conference.

Just ask yourself: does St. Mary's bounce BYU twice and Gonzaga once (so far this season) without Waldow?

And just where were the other Bay Area teams in beating a path to the Waldow domicile?

Lightning HAS STRUCK TWICE and credit is deserved by Samhan, Waldow and certainly the various coaches on the staff at St. Mary's.

St. Mary's takes apart BYU

The game being in Provo didn't matter as St. Mary's won for the second time this season against BYU 80-66 -- this despite 24 turnovers. Redshirt freshman Brad Waldow led with 19 points (8-10 shooting) and eight boards while Rob Jones contributed 13 and nine. Brandon Davies, who had his way in the last meeting between these two teams with 28 points, shot 6-18.

St. Mary's over LM

Rob Jones posted an 11/15 double-double and Brad Waldow contributed 10 points and four rebounds in St. Mary's 71-64 road win versus Loyola Marymount.

St. Mary's tames the Broncos

It was visiting St. Mary's 93-77 over Santa Clara behind twin double doubles by Brad Waldow 14/16 (eight offensive, eight defensive) and Rob Jones 14/15. Niyi Harrison wasn't too shabby himself with a 23/9 Bronco evening.

St. Mary's does it

Ben Enos has the details of St. Mary's whomping visiting Gonzaga 83-62.

Rob Jones had an off-shooting/scoring night but made an impact with 11 boards and eight assists. Redshirt freshman Brad Waldow posted a 17/10 double-double while his primary opponent Robert Sacre was held to 4/3.

St. Mary's Brad Waldow

St. Mary's signed Brad Waldow out of Ponderosa High a couple of years back and Waldow redshirted last season in Moraga. At 6-foot-9 and 250 pounds, the year away from game competition allowed him a period of adjustment time to both college but also college hoops. It seemed like a wise move and one that Coach Randy Bennett could afford.

So what is Waldow up to this season as a redshirt freshman?

In 15 games so far (seven starts), he is averaging 7 points and 3.5 rebounds a game in just under 14 minutes a contest. Waldow is shooting 67% from the floor and has blocked 13 shots. His free throw shooting is below 50% but that's correctable.

The reason for this post? Because it was such a wise move to give Waldow a year of acclimatization, thus allowing him four more seasons of athletic eligibility. He came from a small school with very limited exposure against other similarly sized bigs so any additional time was going to be a basketball plus.

What I don't know is who else was pursuing Waldow and what were their plans for him? Would he have played right away elsewhere (in D-1)? It's impossible to determine but probably so.

I have no idea how Waldow's St. Mary's tenure will work out -- it's pretty promising so far -- but it sure seems like this one is a story where the needs of both the school and student-athlete, and the plan of action, has proven mutually beneficial.

St. Mary's by 16 over BYU

Rob Jones posted a 24/15 double-double in pacing St. Mary's to a 98-82 victory over visiting BYU. Freshman center Brad Waldow scored nine points for the Gaels. Welcome to the WCC Cougars.

Brad Waldow leads St. Mary's

Redshirt freshman Brad (Ponderosa High) Waldow scored 17 points (8-13 shooting) to pace St. Mary's over Missouri State 77-61. He achieved that point total in just 18 minutes of action. Rob (Riordan) Jones had an off=night scoring with seven points but grabbed a team-leading 10 rebounds.