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GAME NOTES: Needing one more win in their final two games of the regular season to secure the second seed in the upcoming West Coast Conference Tournament, the Saint Mary's-CA Gaels begin a two-game homestand against the Pepperdine Waves tonight at McKeon Pavilion in Moraga, California.

As always seems to be the case the Gaels, like every other team in the WCC, are chasing Gonzaga for the top spot in the conference standings but opportunities to pick up ground are coming to an end. It doesn't help that SMC lost both regular-season matchups to the Bulldogs, but if nothing else the Gaels could sew up second place in the standings with a win tonight. The squad closed out a three-game road trip last week with a 61-49 defeat of San Diego to move to 9-3 in conference and 22-5 overall on the season.

As for the Waves, now tied with Santa Clara for sixth place in the WCC at 3-9, they too suffered their second loss in as many chances against Gonzaga this season when they bowed in a 72-54 final last Saturday. The loss was the ninth in a row for Pepperdine, a team that has yet to win a true road game in 2009-10.

The Waves may hold a 69-53 advantage in the all-time series with SMC, but it is the Gaels who are on a six-game run over Pepperdine. The first meeting of the season took place at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu where Saint Mary's delivered an 88-71 victory and has now won 12 of the last 13 meetings. The lone victory for the Waves during that stretch was a 68-66 final back in 2007.

Gonzaga blitzed the Waves in the first half last weekend, holding the home team to just 22.6 percent shooting from the floor, en route to a 21-point lead at the break and eventually the 18-point win. Keion Bell tried to keep Pepperdine involved with his 17 points and 10 rebounds, but shooting only 5- of-15 from the floor didn't help matters. The only other double-digit scorer was Mychel Thompson with 11 points, but his 3-of-16 effort from the field was even worse. Bell paces the team in both scoring (19.5 ppg) and assists (97) and is second on the glass with almost five and a half rebounds per game, but clearly the team cannot win if he is the only one putting up a fight night after night. Thompson accounts for 12.1 ppg, but his 36.1 percent from the floor is simply dismal and it drags the entire group down to just 39.3 percent over the course of 28 games.

San Diego stuck around in the first half and trailed by just two points at the break against the Gaels, but SMC put the home team away by limiting the Toreros to a mere 1-of-8 behind the three-point line in the second half. Another factor in the decision was a 15-4 scoring edge for the Gaels at the free-throw line. Omar Samhan, who is well on his way to postseason accolades, registered yet another double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds, while Ben Allen accounted for 16 points, Mickey McConnell 13 and Matthew Dellavedova 12 points and six assists. Samhan, one of four players to have started all 27 games this season, has always been strong in the paint for the Gaels, but this season he has the spotlight almost all to himself and has responded with 21.1 ppg and 11.2 rpg. Allen (10.6 ppg, 7.3 rpg) has supplied relief on the glass in order to take some of the pressure off Samhan, while McConnell (13.6 ppg, 5.1 apg) and Dellavedova (12.1 ppg, 4.7 rpg) are the ones who keep the offense moving and pummeling opponents.

As long as the Gaels do not get too confident, this should be an easy win against an opponent that has little idea what it feels like to beat an opponent on the road this season.