MBB | Ford, Defense Impress in Win at San Diego

Saturday, February 23

San Diego

6:00 PM

Saint Mary's College of California

19-10, 10-4

San Diego

17-12, 6-8

Saint Marys

San Diego

Photo by: Saint Mary's Athletics / Tod Fierner

MBB | Ford, Defense Impress in Win at San Diego

2/23/2019 8:41:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Jordan Ford scored 21 and the Gaels' defense shutdown the Toreros in a 20-point road victory.

SAN DIEGO — For the second straight game, Saint Mary's held their opposition to less than 30 percent shooting as the Gaels picked up a vital win at the Jenny Craig Pavilion on Saturday night, 66-46.

HOW IT HAPPENED
After holding Pacific to shoot 21 percent on Thursday, the Gaels backed up that performance by forcing San Diego to go 15-for-51 from the field, just 29 percent. The Toreros also shot 28 percent from 3-point land and were 0-for-9 to begin the game.

The Gaels had four scorers reach double figures in the game, led by none other than Jordan Ford who tallied 21. The junior also grabbed six rebounds in the win and has now averaged 6.0 rebounds over the past four games.

Malik Fitts recorded his team-leading fifth double-double of the season with an 11 point, 11 rebound showing. The redshirt sophomore did the majority of his damage in the final half with eight points in the period. Tanner Krebs and Tommy Kuhse also notched 10 points each to pace the offense.

Jordan Hunter had another terrific defensive effort for Saint Mary's with four blocks and 11 rebounds. Hunter now has 12 blocks in the team's last four games and 36 on the season.

Saint Mary's led for the final 17:25 in the game by double digits and maxed their lead out at 20.

Saint Mary's took a 29-20 lead into the first half and Ford had 14 of those points on 5-of-7 shooting. The Gaels did not allow a triple by the Toreros' offense in the opening 20 and held San Diego to just 31 percent from the field.

Ford scored eight points during a 12-4 run midway through the first half for the Gaels that pushed their lead to double digits. With three minutes and change to play, Ford hit another layup to give SMC their biggest lead of the period at 12.

San Diego entered the game as the top defensive rebounding team in the WCC but Saint Mary's was able to grab 11 offensive rebounds in the game.

Isaiah Pineiro had a team-high 13 for San Diego and Olin Carter III chipped in 12 as well. Carter did not score until there were only 10 minutes remaining in the contest with a three pointer which was also the Toreros' first trey of the game.

NUMBERS TO KNOW

8: Matthias Tass scored eight points while nearly matched his career-high of 9 which he set against USD in the teams' first meeting.
20: SMC scored 20 more points in the paint than San Diego (36-16).
36: Saint Mary's led for over 36 minutes in the win.
54: The Gaels shot 54 percent in the second half and were 2-of-3 from distance.

UP NEXT: FINAL WEEK

Saint Mary's will close out their regular season next week with home contests against Portland and No. 2 Gonzaga. More information for the games can be found on the team's schedule page.