Named the West Coast Conference’s Co-Player of the Week on Monday morning, Saint Mary’s center Omar Samhan celebrated in style that night with the 26th double-double of his career, including a career-high 33 points to lead the Gaels (3-1) over Cal Poly (0-4) 92-67 in McKeon Pavilion.
The 6-foot-11 fifth-year senior hit 11 of 13 attempts from the field and 11 of 14 attempts from the line and added 12 rebounds as Saint Mary’s never trailed. Samhan had 13 points in the first half and 20 in the second, including eight in an early second-half 10-2 run by the Gaels.
But it wasn’t just Samhan setting career marks for Saint Mary’s.
Although he was held scoreless, Mickey McConnell had a career-best 12 assists, seven in the first half as he tied his previous best.
Freshman Matthew Dellavedova, given room to shoot as Samhan dominated in the paint, had his best shooting night from beyond the arc, nailing five of six 3-point attempts en route to a 19-point evening.
While Samhan was Mr. Inside and Dellavedova was Mr. Outside, Wayne Hunter was scoring from everywhere, hitting jumpers and attacking the rim as he scored 21 points, one shy of his career best.
Ben Allen gave Samhan inside support with 11 points and seven rebounds.
The Gaels hit 66.7 percent (18-of-27) in the first half and would up at 58.9 percent shooting for the night, hitting 33 of 56 shots, including 7-of-18 from 3-point range.
Cal Poly, which had four players in double figures, led by Jordan Lewis’ 14, shot well in the first half, hitting 53.3 percent (16-of-30), but the Gaels picked things up defensively in the second half, holding the Mustangs to 34.4 percent shooting (11-of-32, including 0-for-7 from 3-point range).
Mitchell Young limited Lewis to only two second half points when brought into the game to guard him.
Samhan, who had back-to-back double-doubles as Saint Mary’s split game with San Diego State and Vanderbilt, including a career-high 19 rebounds against Vanderbilt, was honored as the conference Player of the Week for the third time in his career. He shared the honor with Portland’s T.J. Campbell.
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