MORAGA, Calif. — Saint Mary's Men's Basketball closed out their first week of competition on Sunday night with a home matchup against the North Texas Mean Green. It was clear early and often that one team had faced a pair of quality mid-major programs in the first two games of the season, while the other had not faced a DI opponent. The Gaels used one of the best first halves possible to jump out to a massive lead and then coasted to a 63-33 win over the Mean Green, improving to 3-0 on the season and running their home-winning streak to 21 games.
 
NOT SO MEAN
The Saint Mary's defense was about as lock-down as it could get in the first half, and that was proven on nearly every possession that North Texas had in the first half. The Mean Green started the game making just one shot in their first 22 attempts, and with under three minutes remaining in the half, it was a 33-4 Saint Mary's lead. Within that was a 28-1 stretch where the Mean Green did not make a single basket, going 0-16 from the floor. Saint Mary's took everything away from North Texas, holding them to just 4-27 in the first half (14.8%), with their 12 points being the lowest the Gaels have allowed in the first half since 2017.
 
IT TAKES AN ARMY
Not one Gael was the leader on a night when the game was put away at an early time, with all 10 Gaels who played finding the scoresheet with points. Seven of those Gaels scored at least five points, with Alex Ducas leading the way with his 11 points. Just one game after having five players score double-digits, Ducas was the only one on Sunday, with Augustas Marciulionis and Aidan Mahaney following behind Ducas with nine each. Luke Barrett continued to impress with his hot shooting off the bench, scoring eight points, and Harry Wessels had the best game of his young collegiate career, scoring seven points in 10 minutes.
 
AMONG OTHER NUMBERS
The Gaels continue to be a great rebounding team, and were +20 over North Texas in that department (43 vs. 23)…Mitchell Saxen was the team's leading rebounder with 12 on the night, and every Gael who played had at least one…SMC was awfully efficient from downtown, shooting 10-18 from three-point range in the win, with Ducas and Mahaney each going 3-4…the Gaels never trailed in the game, the first time this season they've lead from start to finish…the shooting percentage of 23.5% for the game by North Texas is the lowest opposing field goal percentage against the Gaels since Stanislaus State shot just 21.9% on December 14, 2022…this is the sixth time since 2010 that the Gaels have held an opponent to under 24% from the floor.  
QUOTABLES
"We love getting stops, we love playing defense, we love grinding out teams and breaking their spirits. If you get stops, and you get runs, and you make layups, it comes on the scoreboard pretty easily," – Alex Ducas
 
"Our four freshmen are being thrown into the fire good games against good teams, and that's how you get good. It's kind of a blessing in disguise that we only [play with] 10, because they have to play and find ways to win, whether they are young or old. It's what we need, playing good games and playing all of our guys. Fortunately, we've been able to create some separation in these first three games, so they are getting good opportunities. When we hit league, they should be ready to play," – head coach Randy Bennett
 
UP NEXT
The home stand continues for Saint Mary's next week with two more games, beginning on Wednesday night at 5:30 pm against Southern University. Both games next week will be featuring a 5:30 pm tip-off, including the Saturday evening contest against Hofstra. Tickets are still available for both games at SMCGaels.com/tickets.