MBK | Gaels Grind Out Win Over Denver - SMC California Athletics

MORAGA, Calif. -- A game that proved to be a grind for most of the night turned in favor of the Saint Mary's men's basketball team after halftime as an early run gave the Gaels some room to breathe en route to a hard-fought 78-62 win over visiting Denver.

Brad Waldow had his finest offensive night of the young season so far, scoring 26 points on 12 of 14 shooting to come within two of his career high 28. Kerry Carter continued his strong start to the season with 16 points and Emmett Naar dished out 10 assists for the Gaels (3-0). Cam Griffin led Denver (1-1) with 19.

Coming out of halftime with just an eight-point lead, Saint Mary's didn't wait long to launch the run it needed to make action moving forward a bit more palatable. A pair of free throws by Desmond Simmons pushed the Gaels' advantage to 40-28 with 16:35 left and a steal and transition dunk by Carter on Denver's next possession increased the lead to 14.

Denver cut the deficit to 11 with just over 12 minutes to play, but Saint Mary's responded with back to back buckets by Garrett Jackson. Jake Pemberton's 3-pointer with 9:28 left brought the Pioneers to within 10, but a spinning fadeaway by Carter re-established a 12-point advantage for the Gaels.

Saint Mary's maintained a comfortable margin throughout the rest of the game, with Waldow continuing to find space down low and the Gaels' shooters also chipping in to keep the lead high. SMC shot a scorching 31 for 48 to finish with a scorching shooting percentage of 65 percent.

"I thought we played our best game so far tonight. I was telling our team that I had that game circled as a tough game in our non-conference schedule," Saint Mary's coach Randy Bennett said. "I was worried about this one and fortunately our guys played really well."

Though they had to work for it, the Gaels carried a 34-26 lead into halftime that came largely from an ability to get the ball into the low post for Waldow to go to work.

The big man from Shingle Springs, Calif. scored eight of Saint Mary's first nine, helping the Gaels take a 9-7 lead by the first media time out. That lead didn't get much larger for the next several minutes, climbing as high as six when Aaron Bright converted a layup to put SMC up 23-17 with 7:46 left in the half.

Denver kept the score close throughout the half, relying on its Princeton offense to find ways to get to the hoop. The Pioneers still couldn't solve Waldow though, and his alley-oop layup from Emmett Naar with 2:02 left made it 30-24. Waldow dropped in a layup just before the halftime buzzer, giving the Gaels the eight-point advantage at the break.

"Just making shots I should be making," Waldow said. "It was tough the last game sitting out pretty much the whole game. It's good being back in there for 25 or 30 minutes."

Saint Mary's returns to McKeon Pavilion on Sunday at 6 p.m. to host Big West favorite UC Irvine. After that, the Gaels host Cal Poly and Boise State in the final two games of a six-game homestand to begin the season. Tickets to all Saint Mary's home games can be purchased by clicking the Tickets link on SMCGaels.com or by calling the SMC Athletic Ticket Office at (925) 631-GoTx.

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MBK | Gaels Grind Out Win Over Denver

Players Mentioned

Emmett Naar

GAELS IN THE PROS

CHAMPIONS

HALL OF FAME

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