By ANTONIO GONZALEZ
AP Sports Writer

MORAGA, Calif. (AP) -- Rob Jones watched Matthew Dellavedova
slice through the lane and waited for the lob. The ball arched
through a crowd of defenders, some his former teammates, and he
hammered home a two-hand dunk that put the punctuation on a
night that never figured to be so close.



Not in these parts, anyway.



Jones had 28 points and eight rebounds against his former team,
and No. 18 Saint Mary's survived a slow start to beat San Diego
84-73 on Thursday night for its 12th straight victory.



"It has nothing to do that I used to play for them at all," said
Jones, who spent two seasons at San Diego and enrolled at Saint
Mary's in 2010. "Every game someone steps up and delivers, and
it just happened to be me tonight."



What timing.



The alley-oop from Dellavedova to Jones extended Saint Mary's
lead to 80-73 with 54 seconds to play, bringing an announced
crowd of 3,500 anxious fans roaring to their feet. San Diego
shot 60 percent and Saint Mary's only 46 percent.



Saint Mary's still escaped unscathed.



Stephen Holt scored a career-high 23 points and Dellavedova
added 17 points, six rebounds and five assists to anchor a late
15-6 run that gave the Gaels (22-2, 11-0) the lead for good
against a surprising West Coast Conference challenger. Saint
Mary's has won 15 straight at home to keep alive its chances for
the program's first undefeated season at McKeon Pavilion.



"For whatever reason, we haven't had a lot of close ones," Saint
Mary's coach Randy Bennett said. "You have to play in those so
that you have to make good decisions and play under that kind of
pressure. In a funny way, it's all right for us. It could help
us down the road."



Chris Manresa had 25 points and Dennis Kramer scored 17 for the
Toreros (8-14, 3-7), who pushed the Gaels to the brink for the
second time this season. San Diego lost 78-72 at home to Saint
Mary's on Jan. 5.



Duplicating that type of performance has been a rare sight this
year for McKeon Pavilion visitors.



The Toreros, who upset Saint Mary's 74-66 in San Diego last
season, showed no signs of slipping this year. They pulled ahead
in the opening minutes with a torrid start from beyond the arc
and kept the Gaels on edge with production from across the
roster.



Kramer came off the bench and made a pair of 3-pointers during a
sudden spurt that gave San Diego a 24-19 lead. The Toreros went
ahead by as many as six until the Gaels started to build
momentum just before half, tying the score at 42 on Stephen
Holt's layup in the opening minutes of the second session.



"No one's played them as close in the league as we have," San
Diego coach Bill Grier. "And we've battled them. For whatever
reason, we seem to match up well with them."



Little separation occurred until late.



A total of 15 ties and six lead changes highlighted a tight
contest. Both teams shot well - San Diego at 60 percent and
Saint Mary's at 46 percent - and made few mistakes.



Dellavedova shook off a timid start to tame the Toreros, making
a 3-pointer, short jumper and two free throws during a 15-6
stretch that put the Gaels ahead by seven. Later, he feathered
the alley-oop to Jones that sealed the victory.



"Our coaches do a good job of keeping everything in
perspective," said Holt, whose previous best was 21 points
against Portland earlier this season. "Yeah, we're ranked and
we're undefeated in the conference, but we still haven't
accomplished our goal of a WCC championship."



Another strong season shaping up for Saint Mary's has had little
come easy lately.



After breaking his thumb last week in a locker room mishap,
Bennett already was wearing a cast around his right hand and a
short-sleeve collared shirt instead of his usual sharp suits. He
said he opened a door and a white board fell on his thumb,
requiring emergency surgery in Los Angeles following a victory
at Loyola Marymount.



Most students also were absent because of a brief vacation
between terms. That still didn't stop crowds from flocking to
tiny McKeon Pavilion to create another strong and feverish
turnout at the mid-major powerhouse.



Saint Mary's is one of eight teams in Division I - along with
WCC rival Gonzaga and newcomer BYU - to win at least 25 games in
each of the last four seasons. The ranking this week in the AP
poll is the highest for Saint Mary's since 1989.



The highest ranking ever for the program is No. 14, a mark held
in the first poll of the 1958-59 season. A few more wins might
allow the Gaels to top that mark - even if they have to sweat
out another victory.



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Follow Antonio Gonzalez at: www.twitter.com/agonzalezAP