Dec. 23, 2007

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HONOLULU, Hawaii-It took a while to get going but the Saint Mary's men's basketball squad quickly erased an eight-point first half deficit and held on for a 70-63 win over Ohio Saturday evening in the championship game of the 44^th annual Rainbow Classic in Honolulu. The Gaels improved to 10-1 overall, while the Bobcats dropped to 8-4. The Gaels are currently second in the RPI according to www.kenpom.com.

Saint Mary's was powered by 23 points from the tournament's Most Valuable Player Patrick Mills, while Todd Golden also had 13. Omar Samhan and Diamon Simpson also had 11 and 10 rebounds, respectively.

One of the keys to the game was Saint Mary's ability to shut down Ohio's long-range attack (1-14 on 3-pointers). Junior forward Jerome Tillman (Beavercreek, Ohio) prevented a total whitewash in the category when he connected on a trey with 18 seconds left in the game.

Tillman paced the Bobcats with a double-double effort of 23 points and 10 rebounds, while senior forward Leon Williams (Baltimore, Md.) registered his 33^rd career double-double with 20 points and 13 boards. Both helped Ohio to a 38-32 edge on the glass and were named to the All-Tournament team for their contributions. The duo also paced Ohio with a combined 17-28 effort from the floor (60.7 percent) on an otherwise uncharacteristic cold-shooting night for the Bobcats.

Ohio also held a 40-26 edge on points in the paint.

Junior guard Michael Allen (Detroit, Mich.) led Ohio with three assists, while Tillman and Williams also had a pair of blocks.

Ohio did an admirable job in the free throw department as it knocked down 76.2 percent there (16-21), while the Gaels made just 14 of 26 attempts (53.8 percent).

Things looked good for Ohio when junior forward Justin Orr (Cincinnati, Ohio) hit a jumper to put the Bobcats up 28-20 with 1:33 to go in the first half. However, Saint Mary's came out in the second half red-hot and raced by the Bobcats in the early going with a 29-5 run, taking a 16-point lead (49-33) on a jumper in the paint by Samhan with 13:33 to go in the contest.

Ohio did make a rally late in the game and closed the margin to five (68-63) on Tillman's 3-pointer, but the Gaels managed to keep the Bobcats at bay though as it converted nine of their final 12 free throws in the game's final four minutes, 35 seconds.

The Bobcats will be back in action at Bucknell (4-6) Wednesday, January 2 at 7 p.m.