AE513: SMC-Gonzaga game on too late for you? I'll recap.

Any of you who follow college basketball closely probably know that Patty Mills, the star of the Saint Mary's College team, broke his hand in the SMC vs. Gonzaga game on January 29. This was a huge blow to the team, as they lost games to Portland and Santa Clara after that. Last night Karl and I knew that we could've stayed home and watched the Saint Mary's - Gonzaga game on ESPN2, but in the end we decided that although Gonzaga was probably going to kill Saint Mary's, it would still be fun to go to the game. We got a couple of "standing room only" tickets (the only tickets left at that point), and headed for McKeon Pavilion!

I'm glad we made that decision. For those of you unfamiliar with Saint Mary's and Gonzaga, they have a very heated rivalry, much like IU/Purdue back in Indiana. The SMC students sitting in the "Gael Force" section were rowdier than ever, and the players were clearly pumped up for the game as well. Saint Mary's kept it close, leading for most of the game, and with 5.3 seconds left they were down by one point. One of the Gonzaga players hit a free throw, then SMC player Carlin Hughes missed a last-second shot from way beyond the three-point mark and the Gaels lost by a measley two points. If you ask me, SMC should've won becuase they got some horrrrrible calls from the refs, and I'm not just saying that because I wanted them to win! They got some genuinely BAD calls and everyone in the stadium knew it.

It was a bad outcome for anyone who considers themself a Gaels fan, but it was also a great game and a lot of fun to see the SMC guys play so well despite not having Patty Mills on the floor. I took some pictures and a few videos at the end, so here you go (side note - if you click on any of the photos in this post you can see a bigger, higher-resolution image):