This week Matthew Dellavedova scored 21 points to become Saint Mary’s all-time leading scorer as the Gaels closed out a tight fought game against Santa Clara 80-67. Dellavedova shot 7-for-16 from the field to reach 1,892 points, eclipsing the previous record of 1,874 set by fellow Australian Daniel Kickert as the Gaels’ bagged their fifth straight win after losing to No. 5 Gonzaga on Valentine’s Day.
To coincide with the achievement Aussies Abroad have put together a great package showcasing Dellavedova’s time growing up in Maryborough and his success while playing for the Australian Boomers and St Mary’s in the NCAA.
Dellavedova, who also now holds school records in assists, three-point shooting and games started has helped usher in the most successful period in Saint Mary’s basketball history. He’s gone to the Sweet 16 and won conference regular-season (once) and tournament titles (twice.) Add the 2011 WCC Player of the Year and on March 5, he was named first-team All-WCC for the third consecutive season
“The best thing about Matt is he couldn’t care less about the scoring, the assists, any of that. He cares about his team winning,” Saint Mary’s coach Randy Bennett said.
This season has clearly been his most focused and most productive yet. While being faced with the most frequent and fearsome defensive pressure of his career, he has averaged 16.5 points and 6.2 assists through 31 games.
“It’s pretty easy to coach when your best player, all-time leading scorer, all-time in assists, the most important thing to him is his team wins,” Bennett added.
Currently St Mary’s are now in the middle of a pre-season campaign which will hopefully see the Gaels topple favourite Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference Championship and earn themselves a seed for the 2013 NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament.
Saint Mary’s dropped only two contests in WCC play this season, both of which came at the hands of the nation’s number one ranked team, Gonzaga.
In what is Matthew Dellavedova’s final season at St Mary’s and with many NBA scouts no doubt basing any decisions to draft him on what he does in the next month or so there will never be a more important time for him to showcase his talents.
Click here to listen to our Aussie Hoopla podcast with Australian Boomers guard Matthew Dellavedova
Dan Boyce is a die-hard Sydney Kings fan who grew up in Melbourne during the roaring 90's of Australian Basketball and spent far too much time collecting Futera NBL Basketball cards.
