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SMC California Athletics

Saint Mary's College Athletics Gaels
Dan Fotu vs Bucknell
Saint Mary's Athletics / Tod Fierner
56
Bucknell BUCK 4-5
85
Winner Saint Mary's (CA) SMC 8-5
Bucknell BUCK
4-5
56
Final
85
Saint Mary's (CA) SMC
8-5
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Bucknell BUCK 28 28 56
Saint Mary's (CA) SMC 42 43 85

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

MBB | Gaels Impeccable in Bennett's 400th Win

Saint Mary's played well all-around versus Bucknell and head coach Randy Bennett reached an impressive milestone with the win.

MORAGA, Calif. — Saint Mary's played quintessential-Randy Bennett basketball on Wednesday versus Bucknell by sharpshooting threes, limiting turnovers, and racking up assists to gift their skipper his 400th career victory in his 18th season as head coach.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Jordan Ford lit up the scoreboard once again as he totaled 28 points and canned four of his six 3-pointers. It was the fourth time in the past five games where the junior guard has scored 20-plus; the only time Ford didn't reach that mark was a 19-point effort versus Cal State Fullerton.

Freshman Dan Fotu made his first career start on Wednesday and was effective in his 24 minutes on the court, grabbing a game-high eight rebounds and knocking down a trey for his lone bucket of the contest. Fotu leads all Gael freshmen in minutes this season at 18.5 per game.  

Saint Mary's offense was efficient the whole night as they shot over 50 percent in both halves. SMC finished the game on a 10-0 run to give them their largest lead at 29 with just over a minute to play. The Gaels had plenty of open looks around the perimeter and knocked down 10 of their 21 tries from beyond the arc.

Ford owned half of the Gaels' 42 points in the opening period and was a lights-out 8-of-10 from the field. He began the game by scoring 12 of the team's first 18 as well. Saint Mary's was able to limit Bucknell to shoot only 32 percent during the first half and 3-of-14 from distance.

Jordan Hunter continued his dominance down low with 15 points and seven boards. The senior was 7-for-10 from the field for his third straight contest with at least 15 points.

Saint Mary's broke off a 9-0 run, all nine coming from Ford, just minutes into the game to pull away from the Bison and kept a solid lead for the rest of the contest. The Gaels never trailed in the game and the contest was tied for only 57 seconds.

Late in the first half, the Bison put together an 8-0 run to bring the game back to two possessions and a six point lead for the Gaels. Saint Mary's offense responded by making seven of their last eight shots in the half however to get up by 14 at break.

Former Campolindo High School star and Moraga native Matt O'Reilly made his first career collegiate start for the Bison and received a round of applause from his hometown fans. O'Reilly played 11 minutes in the loss.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
  • 12: Tanner Krebs scored 12 points for his second highest point total of the season.
  • 18: The Gaels recorded 18 dimes to only 10 turnovers.
  • 20: Saint Mary's has now won five games by 20 or more points this season.
  • 25: There were only 25 fouls called in the entire game and just 12 total free throws taken between both teams.
  • 50: SMC has shot 50 percent or better in six of their last seven games.

UP NEXT: WESTERN KENTUCKY
  • Saint Mary's will hit the road for the last time in their non-conference schedule as they travel to Bowling Green, Ky. to play the Hilltoppers. Links to the game can be found on the Gaels' schedule page.  
 
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