MBB | Giant First Half Puts Away Titans, 81-66

Monday, December 10

Moraga, Calif.

7:00 p.m. PT

Saint Mary's College of California

Cal State Fullerton

Photo by: Saint Mary's Athletics / Tod Fierner

MBB | Giant First Half Puts Away Titans, 81-66

12/10/2018 10:11:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

The Gaels scored 54 points in the opening 20 minutes of Monday night's contest in their fourth consecutive win.

MORAGA, Calif. — Saint Mary's (7-4) rallied to a 54-point first half Monday night against Cal State Fullerton en route to an 81-66 win and their fourth straight victory.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Gaels' offense was led by the three-headed monster of Jordan Ford, Jordan Hunter, and Malik Fitts who combined for 55 of the team's total points. Ford had a team-high 19 points, all of which came in the first half.

Ford was lights out in the opening period, cashing in seven of his nine buckets and making all five of his threes from deep.

Hunter earned his second double-double of the season with 18 points and 10 boards. The big man also had a career-high three steals and added three blocks for a solid all-around performance.

Saint Mary's offense was next to unstoppable in the first half as the team shot 72 percent from the field and made 10 of their 13 tries from distance. Ford, Fitts, and Hunter all reached double-digit points by halftime.

After Fullerton (3-7) scored eight straight points to pull the deficit to five with 6:26 to play in the first half, the Gaels unleashed a 19-4 run which included five made treys. SMC led by as much as 23 in the opening 20.

Tommy Kuhse also had a double-double for the Gaels, the first of his career, on 11 points and 10 assists. The redshirt sophomore's 10 helpers were a career-high and constituted over half of the team's 18 total dimes. Saint Mary's has averaged 17.8 assists per game with Kuhse in the starting lineup.

Fitts added 18 points on 5-of-8 shooting from three in 30 minutes of action.

The Titans came out swinging in the second half and cut the Gaels' lead down to 11 with a 10-2 run. However, Saint Mary's was able to keep CSF at bay and only led by single digits for 22 seconds in the half.

Austen Awosika had a team-high 19 points for Cal State Fullerton and also led the Titans with five assists. Kyle Allman Jr. had 14 points to boot but Saint Mary's defense held him to shoot just 33 percent from the field.

NUMBERS TO KNOW

1.3: Saint Mary's scored 1.3 points per possession against the Titans' defense.
7: Fullerton attempted just seven free throws in the contest.
8: Kuhse was 8-for-8 at the free throw line and scored six of the team's last seven points at the charity stripe.
52: The Gaels shot 52 percent from three-point land.
54: The most points Saint Mary's has scored in a half this season.

UP NEXT: LSU IN VEGAS

Saint Mary's will return to Las Vegas for their fourth neutral site contest of the year as part of the Neon Hoops Showcase. The Gaels will take on LSU at 8 p.m. following the UNLV versus BYU contest at 5:30 p.m. The contest will be streamed on ESPNU and on TuneIn Radio.