MBB | Late Shooting Woes Sinks Gaels in Loss to BYU

Thursday, January 14

Moraga, CA

8:00 PM

Saint Mary's College of California

9-4,0-2WCC

BYU

10-3,1-1WCC

BYU

Saint Mary's (CA)

MBB | Late Shooting Woes Sinks Gaels in Loss to BYU

1/14/2021 10:44:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

MORAGA, Calif. — Saint Mary's (9-4, 0-2 WCC) trailed BYU (10-3, 1-1 WCC) by just one point with under four to play on Thursday night but couldn't stop the surging Cougars in the final minutes in a 62-52 loss.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Quinn Clinton posted 12 points in the game and was 3-of-6 from beyond the arc. Tommy Kuhse also had 12 points and four assists while playing all 40 minutes. Dan Fotu added nine with five boards.

With under 11 minutes to play, Saint Mary's owned a seven point lead but an ensuing 0-for-10 shooting slump would allow BYU to retake the lead. The Cougars ended the contest on a 19-2 run over the final 10 minutes and change.

Thursday's loss marked the first time since 2014 that the Gaels have lost to BYU at home. Saint Mary's is now 16-16 all-time against the Cougars.

The Gaels took a 29-25 lead into the halftime break. Tass and Fotu each had seven points in the period and each made a 3-pointer. SMC attempted 14 triples during the opening 20 minutes which made up more than half of their 27 attempts.

Randy Bennett's defense did a solid job guarding the Cougars on the perimeter as BYU went just 1-of-10 from 3-point range and 0-of-6 in the final half.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
27: Saint Mary's led for nearly 27 minutes (26:58) in tonight's game.
8: SMC led by as many as eight in the game.
10: The Gaels had only 10 turnovers in the contest.
5: Only five points were scored on the fastbreak between the two teams in the low possession contest.

UP NEXT: NO. 1 GONZAGA
The Gaels face their biggest test of the season on Saturday as they host No. 1 Gonzaga at 7 p.m. Fans can watch the action live on ESPN or listen to Alex Jensen's call on TuneIn Radio.