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Saint Mary’s Upsets Cal to Advance to Semifinals of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic at Madison Square Garden

Princeton, NJ (November 13, 2004) – Saint Mary’s College advanced to the Championship Rounds of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic — to be held at Madison Square Garden next week — with a 61-52 upset victory over Cal in the regional championship game on Saturday evening in Berkeley, Calif. Saint Mary’s awaits the winner of the George Mason vs. Memphis regional championship game, taking place this evening in Memphis, Tenn., at 7:30 PM CST.

The Gaels are expected to challenge Gonzaga for the West Coast Conference Championship (where they finished second to Gonzaga last season). They are writing an early season Cinderella story, as they defeated cross town foe Cal without two of their best players (NCAA rules require that Frederic Adjiwanou will miss the first four games of the season and Paul Marigney will miss the first 9 games of the season). The Gaels were coming off a 2-27 season just three years ago when they hired current Head Coach Randy Bennett.

The 2004 Coaches vs. Cancer Classic is an NCAA certified event and began on Thursday with an expanded field of sixteen teams. Certified events such as the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic provide unique opportunities for early season competition that might not otherwise occur until the NCAA tournament in March. By crashing the party at the Garden, the Gaels will be playing in front of a national television audience on the world's biggest stage, Madison Square Garden. It is through these events that teams outside of the BCS (Bowl Championship Series) conferences can strengthen their RPI and NCAA tournament resume.

Below are the results of the Regional Rounds:

Below is the schedule for the Championship Rounds:

Championship Round tickets at Madison Square Garden are on sale now and can be purchased by calling Ticketmaster at (212) 307-7171 or through www.Ticketmaster.com.

The Coaches vs. Cancer program, created by the American Cancer Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches exists to leverage the strength, community leadership and celebrity of our country's basketball coaches to raise awareness and iturn, reduce cancer risk through education programs while raising funds for the American Cancer Society. Since 1993, The Gazelle Group, producer of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, has raised over $2.1 million for Coaches vs. Cancer.

For more information about the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, please visit www.coachesvscancer.com or contact Christopher Makos at (609) 921-1300 or cmakos@gazellegroup.com.