MALIBU, Calif. — Saint Mary's Men's Basketball was back in the road on Thursday night, taking on Pepperdine inside the Firestone Fieldhouse. After a rough WCC opener last Saturday, the Gaels found their stride early and maintained it throughout, scoring their first West Coast Conference win of the year, taking down Pepperdine 77-62. With the win, Saint Mary's improves to 13-4 (1-1) while Pepperdine falls to 6-12 (0-3).
 
JOHNSON JUST DELIVERS
Saint Mary's wasted little time getting the offense rolling on Thursday night, and Logan Johnson was the reason why. On the first two possessions of the game for SMC, Johnson knocked down three-pointers, one from each side of the court. He played the entire first half and his numbers showed that, putting up 16 points in the opening stanza including three triples. Despite cooling off in the second half, Johnson still finished the game with 20 points, including 3-5 from beyond the arc. It's the fourth time in the last six games for Johnson in which he has scored at least 10 points.
 
OFFENSE OPENS UP
After being stagnant last weekend at BYU, the Saint Mary's offense found its rhythm early against Pepperdine, with 39 points in the first half. The Gaels were shooting 56% from the floor at the break, and perhaps even more impressive, the Gaels were 7-11 from beyond the arc at the half. Only five times this season had the Gaels recorded more than seven made three-pointers in an entire game. The Gaels made 11 three-pointers on Thursday night, just the third time all season they've done so. Johnson, Tommy Kuhse, Kyle Bowen, and Alex Ducas all had multiple. For the game, SMC improved to 52.9% shooting from the field, their best mark in a road game this season.
 
RIDING THE WAVE
Saint Mary's led by as many as 14 points late in the first half, but the advantage began to shrink in the middle of the second half. The Gaels saw the lead cut to five points after Maxwell Lewis hit three-pointers on consecutive possessions, making it 57-52 SMC. Four minutes of game-action later, the Gaels were up 66-53 after a Tommy Kuhse three-pointer helped buoy the lead. The rest of the way, the game stayed somewhere around 7-11 points, until the Gaels opened it up late thanks to free throws.
 
THESE THINGS HELPED
Despite not scoring the first half, Matthias Tass ran his streak of 10+ points to 10 games, with 10 points, including his second double-double of his career (and second in as many games with 11 rebounds)…Thursday was the sixth-time this season where Saint Mary's recorded four players with at least 10 points (Johnson, Ducas, Tass, Kuhse)…the 16 points from Kuhse were just one shy of his season-best…by scoring 77, the Gaels scored at least 70 points away from University Credit Union Pavilion for the first time since November 27, 2020
 
UP NEXT
Saint Mary's returns home to play inside University Credit Union for the first time since December 28, and their first time in conference play as they host Pacific on Saturday afternoon. The Gaels and Tigers will go at it with a 4:30 pm tip-off, and the broadcast can be found on NBC Sports California, with Barry Tompkins and Mike Montgomery on the call. Saint Mary's will be looking for its 12^th-consecutive home win, which would be the eighth-longest home winning streak in program history.
 
#GaelsRise — 2021-22 tickets and ticket packages are on sale now! To purchase tickets, click HERE. If you have questions, contact the ticket office by email smctickets@stmarys-ca.edu or call 925-631-4689…Saint Mary's Basketball…#TogetherAgain