Gonzaga got off to a quick start, but Saint Mary’s weathered the storm and the Gaels’ Patty Mills started raining in 3-pointers. The sophomore point guard, who played for Australia in the Olympics, made five 3s – his career high was four – over a 5-minute, 45-second span, the last a pull-up from the right wing to give Saint Mary’s a 29-21 lead.

The Bulldogs got as close as five on Austin Daye’s first basket of the half, but Saint Mary’s answered with the last four points of the half – Diamon Simpson retrieving an errant shot and scoring on a dunk and Carlin Hughes making an off balance, underhand flip shot from 12 feet just before the buzzer.

Mills finished the half with six 3s and 18 points. Simpson scored 10 points and collected seven rebounds, a statistic the Gaels dominated 20-14.

Gonzaga’s Matt Bouldin had nine points and four boards. Josh Heytvelt added six points and five rebounds and Steven Gray also had six points. The Bulldogs made just 1 of 7 3-pointers.