The Saint Mary's men's basketball team doesn't want to do its shopping at the crowded malls this week.

What the Gaels want is a spot in the Top 25 rankings again, and the only way they can have a chance at getting it is to win three games in as many days in the Stan Sheriff Center.

Saint Mary's got off to a good start last night with a 64-57 victory over Tulane in the first round of the 44th annual Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic. A crowd of 928 attended last night's two first-round games at the Stan Sheriff Center.

The Gaels were No. 24 last week, but dropped out of the Top 25 this week after a road loss at Southern Illinois. But three wins — and a Rainbow Classic championship — could put Saint Mary's back among the nation's elite.

The Gaels are the only team in this year's Classic field to be ranked this season.

"The three wins would mean something," Saint Mary's head coach Randy Bennett said. "We've been in the Top 25 this year, so to get in there twice would be great. It's hard to get in there, and we have a tough game (tonight)."

Saint Mary's, which improved to 8-1, will face East Tennessee State in tonight's 5 p.m. semifinal.

Tulane, which dropped to 6-4, will play in a consolation game today at 1:30 p.m.

The Gaels won last night's game despite shooting a season-low 36.2 percent from the field.

Bennett said the keys to victory were his team's rebounding and defense. Saint Mary's out-rebounded Tulane, 41-36, and the Green Wave shot 39.7 percent from the field.

"I thought our defense and our rebounding negated theirs," Bennett said. "And we made a few more baskets."

It also helped to have point guard Patrick Mills.

The 6-foot freshman from Australia scored a game-high 23 points on 9-of-18 shooting.

"He was the reason we had the lead, offensively," Bennett said.

The game was close for the first 10 minutes, and the Gaels held a 17-16 lead with 9:43 remaining in the first half.

Mills then sparked a 13-2 surge that increased the Gaels' lead to 30-18. He scored six during the run.

"He's a good player," Bennett said of Mills. "He has a good feel for that. I'd like to take credit for that, but I can't."

Saint Mary's eventually took a 32-20 lead at halftime, with Mills accounting for 15 points.

"Coming in to halftime, we just we had to be consistent in the second half," Mills said. "As a point guard, I have to find who ever is hot and get the ball to them."

With Mills in control of the offense, Saint Mary's never lost the lead in the second half. The Gaels led by as many as 13, and Tulane never got closer than seven.

Omar Sanham added 11 points for Saint Mary's, and Diamon Simpson grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.

Kevin Sims led Tulane with 18 points, and Robinson Louisme added 12. David Gomez contributed eight points and 10 rebounds.

EAST TENNESSEE ST. 76, GEORGIA 58

What a difference one week makes.

Last week, ETSU got blown out by 50 points at Syracuse.

Last night, the Buccaneers surprised Georgia in a first round game of the Rainbow Classic.

"This is a good win for our program," ETSU head coach Murry Bartow said. "For us to beat a good team like Georgia out of the (Southeastern Conference) is really big. But it's just one of three games in this tournament so we have two more to go."

Courtney Pigram scored 18 points and Kenyona Swader and Andrew Reed added 14 each to lead ETSU.

The Bucs won despite getting out-rebounded 45-31.

Georgia committed 24 turnovers, which led directly to 21 points for ETSU. The Bulldogs also did not fare well at the free throw line, going 10 of 19.

"I thought we scrapped hard," Bartow said. "And fortunately, we were able to win it."

The Bucs, who improved to 5-5, will play Saint Mary's in a semifinal game today at 5 p.m. Georgia, which dropped to 6-2, will face Tulane in a consolation game today at 1:30 p.m.

ETSU went on a 12-2 run just before the end of the first half, and took a 32-23 lead at intermission.

The Bucs opened the second half with a 17-6 run to increase the lead to 49-29 with 14:26 remaining. Georgia never got closer than 10 the rest of the game.

Jeremy Price scored 10 points, and was the only Georgia player to reach double-figure points.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.

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