IN THE ongoing March Madness schedule which reached new heights today, with the NCAA Tournament 2010 Day I, Omar Samhan scored 29 points and took hold of 12 rebounds to help his team, the St Mary Gaels beat the Richmond Spiders 80-71. This is the first victory of St Mary Gaels in the NCAA Tournament since 1959.

The St Mary Gaels, seeded tenth in its bracket, proved a steady hand and team effort does win. The team started with a first half that could have gone either way, rose to the challenge in the second half and snatched the victory in the South Regional first round game, with Mickey McConell stopping the Richmond Spiders from winning with just 1:55 left on the clock.

Though Omar Samhan was forced to sit out after his fourth foul, he had done much work for the team. He had scored 17 points and seven rebounds in the first half, though he had to spend the half's last 6:31 seconds benched due to three fouls.

The team's tempo did not stop and equaled the scores at the end of the first half. Players like Mickey McConell who was MVP at the West Coast Tournament and Clint Steindl took charge, delivering 40-17 against Richmond. Mickey McConell helped with 23 points while Clint Steindl gave 11.

Early second hald, Omar Samhan was back on the field, providing St Mary Gaels with a lead of 41-40, from which it never looked back. He corralled a rebound, spotted Mickey McConell ad passed to him, who later passed to Ben Allen. It was sdhortly agter this past the 10:00 minute mark that he made his fourth foul and was benched.

Next up for St Mary Gaels is against Villanova Wildcats on Saturday, after the latter beat Robert Morris 73-70.