Mile High Mids

Denver stuns St. Mary’s, 70-58

Well… that was unexpected. From my 800 Games Project write-up:

The score is likely to surprise casual observers and St. Mary’s fans alike, but when I caught up with Gaels coach Randy Bennett after the game, said he was not shocked.

“Coming in, I knew this was going to be a tough game,” Bennett said. “I thought we’d have to play well [to win]. I thought we could get it done, but I thought it could go either way.”

When I suggested that fans would likely be surprised when they saw the final score scroll across their screens on ESPN, that seemed to strike a nerve with Bennett. “Yeah, for whatever reason, people are going to do exactly what you said. As a coach, you know it’s not going to be that easy. It’s going to be tough. [Denver is] a good team. … They were 11-4 at home last year, and this team is significantly better [than last year]. … They’ve got more depth. I think that [Denver] has a chance to be a good team.”

Joe Scott agreed. “The pot’s been brewin’, and somehow, some way, it’s been coming together for us,” he said. “And we showed today that we’re more than just better [than last year]. We showed today that we’re a good basketball team, because we just beat a really good basketball team.”

“I just thought we looked like a poised, veteran team that’s won a lot of basketball games,” Scott added. “Pulling away, never folding, never caving. We look like a team that’s been there, done that many times, and that’s a great sign.” …

[Rob] Lewis, the redshirt senior who came back for an extra year after an injury wiped out what would have been his final season in 2010-11, said the win over St. Mary’s “feels really good.”

“I don’t know that we’ve beaten a team that’s as good as them since I’ve been here,” he said. “I think we need to keep it in context, and keep going forward. We’ll enjoy this — because it is a big win, that’s a very good team that we beat — but we need to keep going uphill, you know. … I think we need to realize that we’re four games into the season, and not get too high on this win. But yeah, it feels good. It feels very, very good. Especially with what they did to us last year, out at their place.”

The Moraga Massacre has been avenged. And Denver, having knocked off the #9 team in the Mid-Major Top 25, should be ranked in that poll come next week.