MORAGA, Calif. — A new season began on Thursday night inside University Credit Union Pavilion as Saint Mary's Men's Basketball began West Coast Conference play with a home game against San Diego. After going 10-4 through the first 14 games of the season, the Gaels had remained true to their identity: play strong defense and limit possessions. Things were opened up a bit more on Thursday night, leading to the Gaels scoring a season-best 85 points in a blowout 85-58 win over the Toreros. Saint Mary's is now 11-4 (1-0) while dropping USD to 7-8 (0-1).
 
BREAKING THE GLASS
Four times this season, Mitchell Saxen had set and then tied a career-best with 19 points in a game. That mark was taken down on Thursday night in the WCC opener, as Saxen finally reached the elusive 20-point mark with a double-double, adding 10 rebounds to go with his 8-11 night from the field. He was even better in the second half, where he scored 12 of his 20 points, and he also blocked a pair of USD shots. Saxen now has three double-doubles on the season, and has come alive in the last two games, scoring 39 points and grabbing 19 rebounds.
 
GOOD GOT BETTER
The numbers were staggering on the offensive side for Saint Mary's early in the game, and they continued to get better in the second half. The Gaels scored 42 points in the opening half and then eclipsed that number with 43 in the second stanza. The first half was a prime example of how the Gaels are when they are at their best: everyone contributing. Seven Gaels scored at least three points, and four had at least seven points. Saxen and Augustas Marciulionis were the leading scorers in the first half, with eight points apiece, while Logan Johnson and Alex Ducas had seven. In the second half, Saxen had his 12, while Aidan Mahaney scored 10 and Joshua Jefferson got in on the fun with seven points, including his first two collegiate three-pointers.
 
TOO MUCH SAUCE
Saint Mary's blew the game open early, turning what was a brief 28-second Toreros lead of 6-5 into a Gaels lead of 34-12. That 29-6 extended run came over the span of about 10 minutes, where all the big performers shined bright. Johnson got all seven of his points during that run, and Marciulionis scored six-straight points as well, kickstarting what became a 13-0 run with 12:10 remaining in the half. A trio of threes were made by SMC, and the run was capped off by a Harry Wessels layup to make it a 22-point SMC lead with less than eight minutes to go. The Toreros never got closer than 16 points the rest of the way.
 
THESE WERE ALSO SEASON-HIGHS (OR JUST REALLY GOOD)
The Gaels shot at 56.1% for the night, which just narrowly missed their season-best performance of 56.9% from the Vanderbilt win on November 23…Saint Mary's was +16 in the rebounding department, already the seventh time this year that the Gaels have been at least +10 on the boards…on 32 made shots, the Gaels had 16 assists, their most in a game this season (Johnson had the most with four)…Kyle Bowen set a new career-best with 13 rebounds and added three blocks, part of six for the Gaels, which tied the most they've had in a game this year…Saxen and Jefferson both scored career-bests in points, while Wessels was just one-point shy of tying his career-mark.  
UP NEXT
The Gaels will look to make it a perfect 2-0 this week when they travel to Santa Clara for a New Year's Eve clash at 4:00 pm inside the Leavey Center. Last year, the Broncos upset the then-ranked Gaels on a Tuesday night makeup-game in Santa Clara, but then SMC beat the Broncos by two points in the semifinals of the WCC Tournament. Santa Clara took down the Dons of USF 79-67 in their WCC opener, outscoring San Francisco 41-29 in the second half, to improve to 13-3 on the year. The game will be televised on regional networks, including NBC Sports Bay Area.