Saint Mary's climbs back out of shooting slump to top Vanderbilt, 59-56
Saint Mary's Gaels came from behind and hung on for a win against the Vanderbilt Commodores moving on with a 59-56 win in the first round of the NCAA East Region of the March Madness men's basketball tournament.
Saint Mary's (28-5) came into the game at Cleveland's Rocket Arena as the No. 7 seed against the No. 10 Commodores (20-12) and were 4.5-point favorites. The Gaels won the West Coast Conference regular-season title but lost to Gonzaga in the WCC Tournament title game. Vanderbilt finished ninth in the Southeastern Conference, but faced much stronger competition throughout the season.
The Commodores, led by first-year head coach Mark Byington, are/were making their first March Madness tournament appearance since 2017, while Randy Bennett is in his 24th year as the Gaels head coach.
The Gaels were hamstrung in the first half by their continued lack of a 3-point game. Saint Mary's shot 34.6% shooting in the opening half (9-of-26).
Vanderbilt led by as many as 12 points before Saint Mary's led a steady comeback while WCC Player of the Year Augustas Marciulionis sat on the bench after picking up his fourth foul just 3 minutes into the second half.
With 8:48 left, Marciulonis returned and his 3-pointer with 6:40 left gave Saint Mary's its first lead of the game. Vandy's Jason Edwards tied it up with a 3, but Marciulionis immediately hit another 3 to put the Gaels back in front with 4:23 left.
Luke Barrett buried a 3 at 2:03 to extend the lead to 6, the largest lead of the game for the Gaels.
The Gaels will now meet top-seeded Alabama in the round of 32.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox Sports
20 hours ago
- Fox Sports
Carson Hocevar living the dream back home in Michigan as aggressive, headline-grabbing NASCAR driver
Associated Press BROOKLYN, Mich. (AP) — Carson Hocevar grew up 80 miles west of Michigan International Speedway, where he attended his first race at the age of 5. As a kid in Portage, he dreamed of becoming a NASCAR driver that people talked about. The 22-year-old Hocevar got his wish. He knocked Ricky Stenhouse Jr. out of last week's race at Nashville and his aggressive style has created a buzz in a sport that traditionally has young drivers trying to find the line between aggressive and reckless driving. 'It's cool to be talked about,' Hocevar said Saturday, a day ahead of the FireKeepers Casino 400. 'Obviously, you want to be talked about maybe in a different light. "But I mean, at least they're talking, right? And, I think that's big for me.' Hocevar called Stenhouse earlier in the week to discuss their contact on Lap 106 of 300 at Nashville, where Stenhouse was bumped from behind and sent into a wall. Both said the conversation was productive. 'I don't think he crashed me on purpose,' Stenhouse said. "But I think he was super impatient. 'We've never had any issues. He's had plenty of issues with other people.' Hocevar, in his second full Cup season, was behind only winner Ryan Blaney at Nashville to match the career-best, second-place finish he had earlier this year. At the race in Atlanta, several drivers complained about Hocevar over the radio or some addressed their concerns face to face in pit lane. Blaney, who got turned by Hocevar in the final stage of the race, and Ross Chastain confronted him in February. Chastain sounded frustrated that Hocevar, who drives the No. 77 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports, has not appeared to learn from his mistakes. His latest move was reckless, Chastain said. 'Yeah, 47 spun off his front bumper,' he said. 'Been there, done that.' Blaney has, too. 'You can say you're sorry all you want, but if you don't learn from them and make a change, then everyone thinks you're lying,' Blaney said. A new wrinkle NASCAR's 'In-season Challenge' will begin seeding drivers Sunday and at the following two races in Mexico City and at Pocono. The results will create a field of 32 drivers, who will race for a $1 million prize over a five-race competition starts June 28 at Atlanta. Single elimination will reduce the field to 16 in Chicago, eight at Sonoma, four in Dover and the final two on July 27 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The NBA has had success with a similar format. 'It's like the March Madness bracket,' said Blaney, whose No. 12 Ford finished first last week at Nashville. "You want to do well to seed yourself against an easier opponent. "It could be big. It could grow. I think it's a great idea. Why not try it? You're still going to have racing. It's just going to be a race within the race between all the guys.' Pressing priorities Denny Hamiln is prepared to leave his No. 11 Toyota behind this weekend to join his fiancé, Jordan, who is due to give birth to a baby boy — their third child — at any time. Hamlin, who is also juggling his role as the co-owner of a team suing NASCAR, said he would skip next week's race in Mexico City if necessary to witness the birth of his boy. Hendrick's drought Hendrick Motorsports has won a record 316 Cup races, but hasn't finished first at Michigan in more than a decade. Jeff Gordon's third win on the track was the team's ninth and that was way back on Aug. 17, 2014. 'It's just kind of surprising because I don't feel like it's a track that we struggle at by any means,' said Kyle Larson, who drives the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick. "Every time we've been here, we've been one of the fastest and up front. 'It's not a track like Nashville, where where we struggle.' Odds and Ends Larson at +300 is the betting favorite to win Sunday, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, followed by points leader William Byron (+375), defending race champion Tyler Reddick (+500) and Christopher Bell (+550). ___ AP auto racing: recommended
New York Post
a day ago
- New York Post
A strategy for pacing out your bets on Belmont Stakes day
It's a cliché, but betting — especially on Belmont Stakes day — is a marathon, not a sprint. Becoming a profitable handicapper is not just about picking winners and finding an edge. A pillar of success in betting is managing two things — your bankroll and your emotions. We'll start with bankroll management. Your bankroll refers to the amount of money you have allocated for betting. In other words, the amount of money you would be comfortable losing. For some people, that number could be high. For others, it could be quite low. Bet with your head, not over it. When it comes to a day such as the Belmont Stakes, bankroll management becomes even more important because, in all likelihood, you're going to want to have some scratch in your pocket to bet the headliner at 7:04 p.m. That means you're going to essentially have two separate pools of money: one for the Belmont Stakes and one for the undercard, which gets underway at 10:45 a.m. and features seven other stakes races. It's a magnificent day for railbirds, but it can get spoiled quickly if you're not in control of your impulses. And what makes this day of racing especially tricky for those who may struggle with keeping their emotions in check when it comes to betting is that there is a really tempting 'chase' opportunity in the Belmont Stakes. The 2025 Belmont is headlined by two clear favorites, No. 7 Journalism (8-5) and No. 2 Sovereignty (2-1). Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty gets a bath on June 6, 2025 in preparation for Saturday's Belmont Stakes. Getty Images There will be plenty of casual punters who will plan on ending their day with a big bet on one or both of these horses. If you've been betting long enough, you know this feeling. Perhaps it was on Day 1 of March Madness or the first Saturday of the college football season, but we've all dealt with the temptation of chasing a day of losses with one final bet on a 'sure thing' late in the night (it's why Hawaii football games attract an unusually large number of bets during the fall). Nobody wants to be lectured about betting, or see someone get on their soapbox, but any seasoned gambler will say that resisting the urge to chase their losses was a huge step in the right direction. For the purposes of using a round number, let's say you have a bankroll of $200 for Saturday. Immediately, you should decide how much of that you want to leave for the Belmont Stakes. Mike Repoli is the owner of Uncaged who is running in Saturday's Belmont Stakes. Jason Szenes / New York Post Sticking with the round numbers, we'll put $20 aside for the Belmont (along with stashing away any profits from earlier wins), allowing us $180 to gamble with on the full menu of races leading up to the main event. But there's also a chance you're going to want to be a part of the Mandatory Payout Pick 5, which begins with the Jaipur (Race 9, 4:08 p.m.) and wraps up with the Belmont Stakes. By entering the Pick 5, you not only give yourself a shot at a life-changing amount of money, but you'll also have action on each race, so long as you're still in it, without having to bet anymore. We can put $54 aside for the Pick 5, which allows you plenty of room to build a decent ticket, and leaves you with $126 to bet on the rest of the races. It's not the most exciting part of the game, but mapping out a strategy like this before you enter the gates Saturday will go a long way in helping you walk out feeling like a winner.
a day ago
Federal judge approves $2.8B settlement, paving way for US colleges to pay athletes millions
A federal judge signed off on arguably the biggest change in the history of college sports Friday, clearing the way for schools to begin paying their athletes millions of dollars as soon as next month as the multibillion-dollar industry shreds the last vestiges of the amateur model that defined it for more than a century. Nearly five years after Arizona State swimmer Grant House sued the NCAA and its five biggest conferences to lift restrictions on revenue sharing, U.S. Judge Claudia Wilken approved the final proposal that had been hung up on roster limits, just one of many changes ahead amid concerns that thousands of walk-on athletes will lose their chance to play college sports. The sweeping terms of the so-called House settlement include approval for each school to share up to $20.5 million with athletes over the next year and $2.7 billion that will be paid over the next decade to thousands of former players who were barred from that revenue for years. The agreement brings a seismic shift to hundreds of schools that were forced to reckon with the reality that their players are the ones producing the billions in TV and other revenue, mostly through football and basketball, that keep this machine humming. The scope of the changes — some have already begun — is difficult to overstate. The professionalization of college athletics will be seen in the high-stakes and expensive recruitment of stars on their way to the NFL and NBA, and they will be felt by athletes whose schools have decided to pare their programs. The agreement will resonate in nearly every one of the NCAA's 1,100 member schools boasting nearly 500,000 athletes. 'Approving the agreement reached by the NCAA, the defendant conferences and student-athletes in the settlement opens a pathway to begin stabilizing college sports,' NCAA President Charlie Baker said. Wilken's ruling comes 11 years after she dealt the first significant blow to the NCAA ideal of amateurism when she ruled in favor of former UCLA basketball player Ed O'Bannon and others who were seeking a way to earn money from the use of their name, image and likeness (NIL) — a term that is now as common in college sports as 'March Madness' or 'Roll Tide.' It was just four years ago that the NCAA cleared the way for NIL money to start flowing, but the changes coming are even bigger. Wilken granted preliminary approval to the settlement last October. That sent colleges scurrying to determine not only how they were going to afford the payments, but how to regulate an industry that also allows players to cut deals with third parties so long as they are deemed compliant by a newly formed enforcement group that will be run by auditors at Deloitte. The agreement takes a big chunk of oversight away from the NCAA and puts it in the hands of the four biggest conferences. The ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC hold most of the power and decision-making heft, especially when it comes to the College Football Playoff, which is the most significant financial driver in the industry and is not under the NCAA umbrella like the March Madness tournaments are. The deal looked ready to go since last fall, but Wilken put a halt to it after listening to a number of players who had lost their spots because of newly imposed roster limits being placed on teams. The limits were part of a trade-off that allowed the schools to offer scholarships to everyone on the roster, instead of only a fraction, as has been the case for decades. Schools started cutting walk-ons in anticipation of the deal being approved. Wilken asked for a solution and, after weeks, the parties decided to let anyone cut from a roster — now termed a 'Designated Student-Athlete' — return to their old school or play for a new one without counting against the new limit. Wilken ultimately agreed, going point-by-point through the objectors' arguments to explain why they didn't hold up. 'The modifications provide Designated Student-Athletes with what they had prior to the roster limits provisions being implemented, which was the opportunity to be on a roster at the discretion of a Division I school,' Wilken wrote. Her decision, however, took nearly a month to write, leaving the schools and conferences in limbo — unsure if the plans they'd been making for months, really years, would go into play. 'It remains to be seen how this will impact the future of inter-collegiate athletics — but as we continue to evolve, Carolina remains committed to providing outstanding experiences and broad-based programming to student-athletes,' North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham said. The list of winners and losers is long and, in some cases, hard to tease out. A rough guide of winners would include football and basketball stars at the biggest schools, which will devote much of their bankroll to signing and retaining them. For instance, Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood's NIL deal is reportedly worth between $10.5 million and $12 million. Losers, despite Wilken's ruling, figure to be at least some of the walk-ons and partial scholarship athletes whose spots are gone. Also in limbo are Olympic sports many of those athletes play and that serve as the main pipeline for a U.S. team that has won the most medals at every Olympics since the downfall of the Soviet Union. All this is a price worth paying, according to the attorneys who crafted the settlement and argue they delivered exactly what they were asked for: an attempt to put more money in the pockets of the players whose sweat and toil keep people watching from the start of football season through March Madness and the College World Series in June. What the settlement does not solve is the threat of further litigation. Though this deal brings some uniformity to the rules, states still have separate laws regarding how NIL can be doled out, which could lead to legal challenges. NCAA President Charlie Baker has been consistent in pushing for federal legislation that would put college sports under one rulebook and, if he has his way, provide some form of antitrust protection to prevent the new model from being disrupted again.
