MBK | Long-Range Attack Carries Gaels Past Mustangs
12/15/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
MORAGA, Calif. — A record long-range attack led by Calvin Hermanson's career-high 23 points and five 3-pointers carried the Saint Mary's College men's basketball team past visiting Cal Poly Monday, as the Gaels defeated the Mustangs 93-63 in a non-conference game at McKeon Pavilion.
Saint Mary's (7-1) set a new program record for 3-pointers made in a game with 19 against the Mustangs (5-4), breaking the seven-year-old record of 17 at Pepperdine on Feb. 18, 2008. No other West Coast Conference team has made more than 15 in a game so far this season. The Gaels shot 61.3 percent (19 for 31) from beyond the arc en route to their second largest margin of victory this year and their largest ever over Cal Poly after beating them by 26 (82-56) on Nov. 29, 2014, of last season.
Four SMC players scored in double figures and five made at least two 3-pointers. It was the seventh consecutive game in which at least three Gaels scored double-digit points.
It's huge," said Hermanson about the Gaels' balance. "That's what I love about this team so much. You never know who's going to step up on any given night, and it got proven again tonight. You never know who it is."
In contrast, only two Cal Poly players were in double figures, led by Luke Meikle's 18 points. The Mustangs shot 41.5 percent in the game to the Gaels' 60.3 percent and were just 4 for 13 (30.8 percent) from the 3-point line.
We really just wanted to move on (from the Cal loss) and get a good win, and I think we did a really good job of that tonight," said Hermanson. "We got into a good rhythm, played great offensively, played great defensively and got a great team win."
Emmett Naar had a double-double in the first half alone with 10 points and 10 assists. He'd finish the game with a career-best 11 helpers and 18 points. Dane Pineau scored 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds, helping Saint Mary's outrebound Cal Poly 34-22.
Stefan Gonzalez made the record-breaking trey with 5 minutes, 21 seconds, left in the game – his fourth of the night – putting the Gaels up 83-52. He would hit another one four minutes later to put the Gaels back up by its biggest lead of the game at 92-59 and tie his career high with 15 points on 5 for 7 shooting from downtown.
The 3-point shooting got started early thanks to Hermanson. Three straight 3-pointers by Hermanson on consecutive possessions helped push along an early 11-0 run for the Gaels that made it 13-2 just four minutes in. Cal Poly was 1 for 5 from the floor during the run and was outrebounded 5-1 while going scoreless for more than 3 1/2 minutes.
Hermanson continued his hot start a few minutes later, snapping a Cal Poly 5-0 spurt with a baseline jumper to give him double-digit points at the 14:29 mark of the first half and another one 90 seconds later to set a new career high in points and field goals made with his fifth bucket of the game and 12th and 13th points.
I just did a good job of getting into a rhythm, guys were finding me and shots were going in tonight," said Hermanson. "Coach (Randy Bennett) has been on me about staying aggressive, but I think I can make a difference on this team scoring-wise, so I'm just trying to get back in a rhythm and help the team out."
A 17-7 run to end the first half gave Saint Mary's a 19-point lead at 46-27 heading into halftime. The run extended into the second half as a longer, 24-9 run that pushed the lead to SMC's biggest of the game at that point with a 24-point advantage (53-29). Pineau had nine points during the stretch, including seven straight points for SMC.
Saint Mary's returns to McKeon Pavilion to take on Southern Utah at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Single game, group and specially-priced team ticket packages are available via SMCGaels.com or by calling the SMC Athletic Ticket Office at (925) 631-GoTx (4689).
With a tough stretch like this – three games in six days – we're just going to try and rest a little bit, come in and scout them again, make sure we really have a number on their guys and try to get another win on Wednesday," said Hermanson.
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