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SMC California Athletics

Saint Mary's College Athletics Gaels
Jordan Ford layup vs Pepperdine
Saint Mary's Athletics / Tod Fierner
82
Pepperdine PEP 16-16,8-8 WCC
89
Winner Saint Mary's (CA) SMC 25-7,11-5 WCC
Pepperdine PEP
16-16,8-8 WCC
82
Final
89
Saint Mary's (CA) SMC
25-7,11-5 WCC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 OT 1 OT 2 F
Pepperdine PEP 31 41 8 2 82
Saint Mary's (CA) SMC 40 32 8 9 89

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

MBB | Ford Scores 42 to Lead Gaels Past Waves in Vegas

LAS VEGAS — Saint Mary's (25-7, 11-5 WCC) survived a double overtime thriller in the quarterfinals of the 2020 West Coast Conference Tournament versus 6-seed Pepperdine (16-16, 8-8 WCC) and will now move to play BYU in the semifinals on Monday. 

HOW IT HAPPENED
The story of the game was the showdown between Jordan Ford and Colbey Ross, two of the conference's top offensive guards. Ford went off for a career-best 42 points while making 17 of his 30 shots including 5-for-12 on threes. Pepperdine's Ross scored 43 and knocked down seven threes to lead his team. 

The biggest play of the game came with 26 seconds left in double overtime with the Gaels up two. After a timeout was called, Saint Mary's had eight seconds remaining on the shot clock and tossed the inbound to Ford. The senior was closed out near the sideline, spun around 180 degrees and heaved up a 30-footer that found nothing but nylon to beat the buzzer. He then made two free throws on the next possession to close out his all-time greatest performance. 

Ford's 42 points was the second most ever in a game by a Gael, just one point shy of Jim Moore's 43 back in 1964 versus Sacramento State. 

Tommy Kuhse scored 11 points, grabbed eight boards, and had five assists to help the cause while Malik Fitts also tallied 11 points. Dan Fotu scored six points and tied Kuhse with eight rebounds. 

With 79 seconds remaining in overtime, Fitts hit two key free throws to put SMC up, 79-77. After Pepperdine converted an and-1 on the other end, Tanner Krebs hit the front end of two free throws to even the score with 18 seconds left. Ross would miss an open jumper just before the buzzer sounded to send the game into a second overtime session. 

In the second extra period, Alex Ducas had a big offensive rebound and put it back in for the team's first bucket and an 82-82 score. Ford got a layup on the team's next possession and the defense recorded back-to-back stops to put SMC up two with 45 seconds on the clock. 

With eight minutes and change in regulation, the Gaels took their largest lead of the game at 11 but the persistent Waves immediately responded with a 10-0 run to make it a single-point affair. Saint Mary's offense went cold in the final minutes of the game as they were held scoreless for the last 3:53. With the score tied, Ford and Kuhse had last second shots at the buzzer but both attempts found rim.

The Gaels led 40-31 at the break with Ford accounting for 14 of Saint Mary's points and Ross recording 16 for the Waves. SMC was just 2-for-8 from three-point land but shot 53 percent overall in the half. 

Late in the first half, Saint Mary's earned separation by holding Pepperdine without a field goal for over eight minutes. The Gaels received six points off the bench during that span courtesy of Kyle Bowen and Jock Perry and found themselves with a 10 point advantage with 3:42 remaining in the period. 

After Pepperdine jumped to an early lead in the game, Saint Mary's reeled off a 7-0 run to tie things up 13-all with 12:47 to play. After a few Waves' threes, the Gaels took their first lead of the contest on a Krebs and-1 less than two minutes later. 

QUOTABLE
"We had some chances to put the game away in regulation but we battled and scraped. We finally got some defensive stops and made a couple big shots. In March, it's survive and advance so you'll take them how you can get them." - Assistant coach Marcus Schroeder

NUMBERS TO KNOW 
17: The Gaels forced 17 turnovers in the game and had nine steals.
50: Ford played all 50 minutes of the contest. 
52: Saint Mary's scored 52 points in the paint compared to 30 for Pepperdine.
9: SMC scored the final nine points of the game. 
18: Kyle Bowen was a +18 in plus/minus in 25 minutes of play. 

UP NEXT: SEMIFINALS
Saint Mary's will take on BYU on Monday in the semifinals round. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. Pacific and can be seen on ESPN2. 
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