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SMC California Athletics

Saint Mary's College Athletics Gaels
Kristers Zoriks
Saint Mary's Athletics / Tod Fierner
66
Omaha UNO 5-4,0-0 Summit League
75
Winner Saint Mary's (CA) SMC 8-1,0-0 WCC
Omaha UNO
5-4,0-0 Summit League
66
Final
75
Saint Mary's (CA) SMC
8-1,0-0 WCC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Omaha UNO 39 27 66
Saint Mary's (CA) SMC 35 40 75

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

MBB | Gaels Improve to 8-1 with Win over Omaha

MORAGA, Calif. — Saint Mary's shrugged off a slow start to take down a pesky Omaha team 75-66 on Sunday night in Moraga. 

HOW IT HAPPENED
Tanner Krebs had 19 points for the Gaels to lead the team and made five of his six tries from beyond the arc. The redshirt senior scored the first 14 points of the second half for Saint Mary's and totaled 16 in the period. 

Malik Fitts earned his third double-double of the year with 12 points and 13 rebounds and matched a season-high with four dimes. Jordan Ford came up just short of his seventh 20-point game already this season as he went for 18. 

Omaha gave the Gaels trouble for much of the game, going bucket for bucket early on and eventually took a four-point lead in the halftime break. SMC led by as many nine in the first period but a 13-3 run late in the half would put the Mavericks back on top. 

Saint Mary's found their defensive footing in the final 20 minutes as UNO shot just 34 percent from the field in the period after shooting 55 percent in the first half.

The Gaels separated from the Mavs with about eight and a half minutes to go in the game as Krebs, Fitts, and Ford combined for a 7-0 run. Two made free throws by Fitts with just over four minutes to play gave SMC their first double digit lead and they'd maintain at least a nine-point advantage for the remainder of the contest. 

NUMBERS TO KNOW
10: Aaron Menzies scored a season-high 10 points in 14 minutes on the court. 
30: Kristers Zoriks played a career-high 30 minutes while also scoring 11 points. 
2: Saint Mary's had a 2.0 turnover-assist ratio in the game (14/7). 
50: The Gaels have now shot over 50 percent in six of their last seven games. 

QUOTABLE
"Tonight's game was good, we did a good job of tightening up our defense and sticking to the game plan. Definitely a quick turn around from Friday night, but we made sure that we took care of ourselves and kept up the energy. We treat every game the same, we come in with the same mindset and try to take it one game at a time so we're looking forward to Northern Illinois." - Jordan Ford

"We have played a lot of good teams and Omaha is good too, so it's stressful every night but it is making us better. Tonight we struggled in the first half but it makes us play harder and challenges us which will help us when conference play comes around. We did a much better job defensively tonight and I am pleased with where we are at." - Randy Bennett

UP NEXT: NORTHERN ILLINOIS
Saint Mary's will play their penultimate non-conference home game on Thursday against the Huskies. Tickets for the 7 p.m. tipoff contest can be purchased here. 
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