WCAC Roundup : Bell Helps USF Upset St. Mary’s

James Bell’s 3-point play with 54 seconds remaining snapped a tie and lifted the University of San Francisco to a 62-55 upset of St. Mary’s in a West Coast Athletic Conference game Friday night at Moraga.

USF trailed, 55-53, with 2:24 left, but Mark McCathrion scored on a short jump hook at 1:43 to tie the score. St. Mary’s had a chance to regain the lead, but Dan Curry missed the front end of a 1-and-1 to set up Bell’s winning play.

St. Mary’s saw its 7-game winning streak come to an end and fell to 16-2 overall and 4-1 in the WCAC. The Gaels, who were 7-0 in road games, fell into a second-place tie with Loyola Marymount. Pepperdine leads at 5-0.

McCathrion, the 6-foot 8-inch center who had missed the previous 2 games because of a death in his family, led the Dons with 14 points as USF (10-8, 2-3) shot 65% against a team that was leading the nation in field goal defense.

Al Lewis led St. Mary’s with 15 points, including back-to-back 3-point shots that took the Gaels from a 53-49 deficit to a 55-53 lead with 2:24 remaining.

Santa Clara 67, San Diego 66--The Toreros, trailing by 18 points with 7:32 left, staged a furious rally, but came up short at San Diego.

With Santa Clara (13-5, 2-3) ahead by 1 with 8 seconds left, Bronco guard Melvin Chinn missed a free throw. San Diego’s Craig Cottrell rebounded, and the Toreros (5-12, 0-5) were within seconds of pulling off the victory.

Cottrell passed to freshman forward Kelvin Woods, who had trouble getting the ball upcourt. Woods passed it to Danny Means. With 2 seconds left and the ball at midcourt, Means tried to get off a shot but couldn’t.

Santa Clara had used an 8-0 run to go ahead, 50-32, with 8:09 left before San Diego started its comeback. The Toreros pulled to within 65-64 on Wayman Strickland’s 3-point shot with 23 seconds left.