MORAGA, Calif. — After three games where Saint Mary's had pulled ahead of the opposition in the second half, Wednesday night's game a different feel to it. The Gaels were pitted against Bellarmine in their first-ever matchup against one another, and the Knights hung around for 40 minutes. In the end, Saint Mary's made enough plays down the stretch to pull away and vanquish the Knights by a final of 73-64. With the win, Saint Mary's caps off their season-opening home stand with a 4-0 record, while dropping Bellarmine to 0-3.
 
TALK ABOUT TASS
Any conversation about Wednesday night's win should begin with Matthias Tass, who exploded onto the scene with a 25-point performance, a new career-best. Tass was held scoreless in the Southern Utah game on Monday night, but in just 25 minutes on the floor, went 8-8 from the field and was 9-11 from the free throw line. He capped off his evening with a dunk and a layup for the final SMC points after Bellarmine attempted to press Saint Mary's late in the game. Without his presence looming large in the paint, Saint Mary's not have been able to withstand the Knights.
 
THEY DID ENOUGH
While it wasn't a flashy evening in terms of statistics for Saint Mary's, the Gaels hung in there and did enough to grab the win. SMC watched an 11-point lead evaporate in the second half when Bellarmine went up 55-54 with 5:54 remaining, but that's when Tass began to take over, scoring six of the next eight Gaels points. Tommy Kuhse hit a nifty layup to help the Gaels, but perhaps the biggest shot of the half came from Alex Ducas. Kept quiet all night, Ducas nailed a corner-three with 2:19 to go that lit up the UCU Pavilion crowd and gave the Gaels a 65-59 advantage, one they would not relinquish.
 
GETTING TO THE LINE
After the first three games of the season, Saint Mary's had been to the free throw line just 43 times, and only three times on Monday night. Wednesday against Bellarmine, the Gaels were there often, taking 31 free throws and making 20. That number represents the most free throws made in a game by Saint Mary's since February 6, 2020 when the Gaels made 21 against San Diego. Kuhse made his first five free throws on the season, while Logan Johnson got to line 12 times.
 
OTHER IMPORTANT NUMBERS
Kuhse got back to his assist-happy ways, dishing out six assists to give him 367 in his SMC career, just five away from eighth place in program history...Kuhse was also the second-leading scorer behind Tass with 15…while the Gaels allowed Bellarmine to shoot 51.1% from the field, the Gaels limited the Knights to just five made three-pointers…Bellarmine was forced into a lot of errors from the Gaels defense, with 15 total turnovers leading to 14 Gaels points (14-6 advantage in points off of turnovers, 15-6 turnover advantage).
 
UP NEXT
The Gaels will enjoy their first four-day break of the season before taking part in the Maui Invitational for the first time. Saint Mary's will play three games in three games at Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas, beginning with Notre Dame on Monday night at 8:30 pm on ESPN2. A win for SMC would pit them against the winner of Oregon and Chaminade on Tuesday at 5 pm, while a loss would result in a 7:30 pm tip-off against the loser of that game.  
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