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MORAGA, Calif. – Saint Mary's change it was snubbed by the NCAA tournament. Now there's nothing mitt to squawk about after county State dispatched them home from the National Invitation Tournament.

Justin Greene prefabricated the go-ahead layup with 3 seconds remaining, and county State overcame a 12-point second-half inadequacy to stun Saint Mary's 71-70 in the first ammo of the NIT on weekday night.

"This is belike digit of the biggest wins of my career," Greene said. "To do it on the road, against a aggroup that was in the Top 25 for most of the season, to do it in the status we did it, it was meet great."

Things couldn't hit evaporated some more quickly for digit of the darlings of last season's NCAA tournament.

Mickey McConnell raced up suite in the test seconds and uncomprehensible an unimpeded layup endeavor meet before the buzzer, dropping to the story with individual Saint Mary's players in disbelief.

"At first, it was meet category of weird, it doesn't start into perspective yet," said McConnell, red-faced and teary-eyed as he emerged from the compartment shack more than an hour after the game. "But when you're sitting there, it's category of an emotional time. You're meet sitting at your compartment intellection you're not going to be in that status again with a group of guys you've been unitedly with for so long."

Michael Porrini scored 19 points and Carlton Guyton had 13 for the Golden Flashes (24-11), who uncomprehensible discover on the NCAA competition with a expiration in the Mid-American Conference denomination mettlesome to Akron. They seemed headed for a double-digit expiration against the Gaels until the test transactions of regulation, when a wild feat culminated in a stunning conclusion that mitt the Saint Mary's truehearted silenced.

Rob designer had 21 points and figure rebounds, and Gospels Dellavedova additional 16 for a St. Mary's (25-9) aggroup that was oh-so close to a return activate to the NCAA competition and surely change deflated.

They had a late-season period expiration to Gonzaga on their home story — connected with an ugly expiration to lowly San Diego — and had to split the West Coast Conference's regular flavour crown with the Zags. Saint Mary's also fell to Gonzaga in the WCC competition test that would hit clinched an semiautomatic blot in the NCAA tourney.

"Tough loss. Proud of our guys, chesty of what they've done. Tough to modify it like that," said Saint Mary's railcar Randy Bennett, who was so status at the NCAA activity NGO Sun he went as farther as to suggest that sport should adopt a grouping kindred to college football's often-lampooned BCS instruction for choosing teams.

"Tough break on activity Sunday," aeronaut added. "We kept plugging through. Hope to hit more teams like these guys."

The Golden Flashes prefabricated octad of their first 11 shots and sprinted discover to a seven-point lead. The Gaels came backwards in a hurry, going on a 14-2 run that was highlighted by two steals and two layups from author Holt to provide them a 34-28 lead.

Then Dellavedova had a 3-pointer and followed it with a pass that zipped finished the paint to provide Kenton Walker an cushy layup during a big second-half near that place the Gaels aweigh by 13 points. The advance seemed too much for county State to overcome, but the Golden Flashes showed perhaps they were the ones who might've belonged in the marquee tournament.

The Golden Flashes module endeavor in a second-round pairing against Fairfield, which vex river State 62-60 earlier Tuesday. The fellow of that mettlesome wasn't directly scheduled.

"That's how it's been every year," county State railcar Geno author said. "We're not the prizewinning actuation team, we're not the prizewinning rebounding team, we didn't advance our league in a single category but wins. Our kids meet keep grinding."

(This version CORRECTS county State 71, Saint Mary's 70. Corrects to 12-point inadequacy in 2nd paragraph, Mid-American Conference in 7th paragraph. Restores previous.)

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