| | Published November 26th, 2008
| Gaels Fell Falcons in Season Opener
| | By Mikaela Cowles |  | | Saint Mary's alum Michael Johnson rallies the crowd with the flag Photo Tod Fierner
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The Saint Mary's men's basketball team started the season off with a solid win over Division II Seattle Pacific on November 14th, winning 86-55.
The Gaels controlled the opening minutes of the game with a 14-1 run, but the Falcons fought back to within 5. Australian Olympian Patrick Mills started Saint Mary's on a 20 point run with a 15-foot jumper. Mills got off to rough start, missing his first 4 attempts, but as he settled into the game the Gaels followed suit.
Standout freshman Clint Steindl, debuted his college career with a breakaway two-handed dunk. He finished with 8 points, all of which came in the first half. The Falcons went into the locker room at half losing 42-19.
The second half did not bode much better as Seattle Pacific's team found no answer for Saint Mary's superior speed and height. The Gaels accumulated 18 steals and out rebounded the Falcons by 12. Diamond Simpson brought 9 of Saint Mary's rebounds to match his 9 points, falling just shy of a double-double.
The Gaels returned 4 of their starters and displayed impressive depth, with12 players making it on the floor, 11 of them scoring at least two points.
When asked what he thought the game showed about the upcoming season Mills said: "We're deep. We have a lot of shoes on the team. We have a lot of people who can play lock down defense and people who can rebound. When you have a team like that it's great, because you can share the ball around."
Sharing is what Mills did, leading the team with 8 assists. Fellow Australian Carlin Hughes was right there behind him, contributing 7 assists.
Leading scorers Mills and Omar Samhan both finished the game with 15. SPU was lead by Casey Reed with 13 points.
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 | | Omar Samhan (50) scored 15 points, Diamond Simpson (20)
Photo Tod Fierner
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA