MBB | Hunter’s Career-Night Propels Gaels To Largest Win Of Season

Tuesday, December 4

Moraga, Calif.

7:00 p.m. PT

Saint Mary's College of California

5-4

Bethune-Cookman

4-5

Bethune-Cookman

Saint Mary's (CA)

Photo by: Saint Mary's Athletics / Tod Fierner

MBB | Hunter’s Career-Night Propels Gaels To Largest Win Of Season

12/4/2018 8:58:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

The Gaels completed their largest win of the season over Bethune-Cookman as Jordan Hunter recorded his best game of his career.

MORAGA, Calif. — The Gaels recorded the win against Bethune-Cookman on Tuesday with their biggest victory margin of the season with a 93-61 final. Jordan Hunter had the biggest night of his career while picking up highs in multiple categories and helping Saint Mary's to their fifth win.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Gaels' big man completed a career-night in three categories against the Wildcats. Hunter recorded a career-high 24 points, ten rebounds, and four assists, as well as a season-high three blocks for his first double-double of the season. He played a total of 28 minutes while shooting 8-for-10 from the field and 8-for-12 from the free-throw line.

Jordan Ford was a big piece of the Gaels offense as well and recorded 23 points while shooting 8-for-10 and collected two rebounds, two steals, and an assist. Tommy Kuhse stepped up in his second career-start for Saint Mary's as he notched 11 points for a new career-high, four rebounds and six assists.

Hunter continued his productive night for the Gaels as he scored the first bucket of the second half, and started a run for the team. Saint Mary's turned up the offense and shot 4-for-6 from the three point line with each shot coming from a different Gael player and made nine of ten shots in a row from the field with just over 12 minutes. SMC broke open a 26-point lead over the Wildcats while maintaining a 16-2 run into the final ten minutes of the match.

With seven minutes left in the first half, the teams remained within two points of each other. Shortly after, Saint Mary's went on a 10-2 run to take a seven-point lead over the Wildcats with Hunter and Kuhse leading the run. The Gaels ended the half with a 36-31 lead over Bethune-Cookman and were outshooting their opponent 53 percent to 48.

The Gaels and the Wildcats traded baskets through the first five minutes of the match on Tuesday.
Hunter had the first seven points for the Gaels, as well as went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line in the first ten minutes of the game. Saint Mary's went on a 9-0 run towards the middle of the half to reclaim the lead, while Hunter continued to lead the charge and collected five more points.

Malik Maitland led Bethune-Cookman's offense on Tuesday night with 13 points and shot 6-for-9 during the match. He collected one rebound and one assist over 26 minutes of play. Cletrell Pope led the Wildcats in rebounds with 10, including three on offense.

NUMBERS TO KNOW

59: Saint Mary's shooting percentage.
32: Gaels' largest win margin dating back to March 13, 2017.
39: Bethune-Cookmans' shooting percentage.
50: Number of attempted free-throws from both teams.
17: Number of assists from the Gaels' offense.

QUOTABLES

Jordan Hunter: "In the offseason, it was being the best at knowing our offensive and defensive system and just doing what I could do as far as getting better myself when I wasn't playing. Now that I'm back on the fold, it's just being vocal on and off the court and to work hard in the games and at practice."

Marcus Schroeder: "They played well, especially in the second half. You get those minutes, things definitely start to slow down and that's when you get good. We saw that tonight with Hunter. He's in a really good rhythm right now and he's playing really well. We just have to keep having consistent performances with all of our guys and we'll continue to get better."

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