Tuesday's Action

Saint Mary's played in the First Four, BYU played in the NIT and Santa Clara played in the CBI last night. All three teams won their first postseason games.

NCAA First Four:
#11 Saint Mary's 67 - #11 Middle Tennessee 54
NIT Opening Round:
#3 BYU 90 - #6 Washington 79
CBI Opening Round:
Santa Clara 77 - Vermont 67

Matthew Dellavedova led the Gaels to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time in school history, last night he led them to victory.

The Olympian led the way with 22 points on 7 of 14 shooting. Dellavedova had amassed nine points over the Gaels' past two games. He broke out of his slump just in time. Stephen Holt added 18 and Beau Levesque 13 to help break through the normally stingy Blue Raiders' defense.

With the win the Gaels advance to play the #6 Memphis Tigers at 11:45 AM PDT on Thursday.

Tyler Haws and BYU blasted the Washington Huskies to advance in the NIT and pick up a postseason win for the fourth straight year.

Haws' 37 points came on a super efficient 15 of 24 shooting (62.5%), he was a perfect six of six from the line. Brandon Davies pitched in 22 and Matt Carlino added 20. Those three combined for 79 points, the same total the Huskies scored.

In line with their typical style, the Cougars played at a blistering pace. In the 40 minute game the Cougars had 82 possessions. They scored 1.1 points per possession last night. Only ten teams average a higher number of points per possession on the season. Gonzaga, 1.16ppp, leads the nation and Saint Mary's, 1.13ppp, is fourth.

With the win BYU advances to face the winner of Tennessee/Mercer.

Speaking of efficiency, Santa Clara was the model of efficiency last night. Behind 23 points on 8 of 14 shooting from Kevin Foster, 20 points on 7 of 12 shooting from Marc Trasolini and 12 points on two of four shooting from Evan Roquemore the Broncos cruised to a ten point win over the Vermont Catamounts.

Santa Clara averaged 1.18 points per possession over their 65 possessions.

The normally foul committing Broncos bested the normally foul drawing Catamounts by fouling only 17 times to their 24. That resulted in a 22-10 points from the line advantage for Santa Clara.

With the win Santa Clara advances to play at the winner of Purdue/Western Illinois.