FORT WORTH, Texas — The Battleground 2k22 was appropriately named on Saturday night, with Saint Mary's Men's Basketball taking on top-ranked Houston on ESPN2. Both teams embodied the namesake of the event they played in, grinding out a defensive struggle that is indicative of two of the best defensive teams in the country. The Gaels have Houston quite a fight, but they couldn't muster enough offense, dropping the game 53-48. The Gaels are now 6-3 while Houston remains unbeaten at 8-0.
 
LOST SOME MOMENTUM
The first half was pretty back-and-forth, with the Gaels holding leads after the under-16 and under-12 media timeouts. Houston came back to take a narrow lead and both teams were jockeying for possessions defensively for most of the half. The Gaels were down 22-20 with less than four minutes to go, and that's when the game flipped. Houston scored the final nine points of the half, closing it out on a 14-3 extended run while holding the Gaels to just 1-12 shooting to close out the half. That put the top-ranked Cougars on top 31-20 at halftime, and they seemed primed to pull away with the game going into the intermission.
 
GETTING IT BACK
The Gaels were not deterred entering the break in a deficit, as they came back and scored the first five points of the half on a Logan Johnson layup and then a three-pointer on the next possession. The Cougars then went up by 12 with just over 13 minutes remaining, but it never got larger than that. The offense started clicking from distance, with Aidan Mahaney and Alex Ducas hitting some threes, and then Chris Howell made an impact off the bench with layups on consecutive possessions. Combine that with a Mahaney three at 6:31 to go, and it was a 46-43 Houston lead with 6:31 remaining. It was very much a ballgame.
 
THE FINAL MINUTES
The 7-0 run for Saint Mary's to get within three was great, but the Cougars followed with five in a row to go back up by eight. Johnson hit two free throws with three minutes remaining and Houston answered with a bucket to keep the lead at eight, but then Mahaney drilled his third triple of the half with 2:23 to go to make it 53-48. Neither team scored again to close out the game, but the Gaels had chances. Johnson missed a shot with 51 seconds remaining that would have made it a one possession game, and then after the Gaels forced a missed shot with 12 seconds to go, they failed to cash in on the other end, effectively ending the game.
 
THE FINAL NUMBERS
The Gaels out-shot Houston from the floor (37.0% vs. 36.8%) and from three-point range (40.9% vs. 27.3%), while holding the potent Cougars offense that averages 78 points per game to just 53…Johnson led all players in the game with 17 points and added six rebounds and five assists…the Gaels won the rebound battle handily, 36-27, with Kyle Bowen leading the way with 12 rebounds, despite not scoring…Manahey was the only other Gael in double-digits with 14 points on 4-8 from downtown…SMC had assists on 14 of 17 made shots…the game was decided on turnovers, as the Gaels coughed it up 17 times compared to just five for Houston, and the Cougars were +11 in points off of turnover.
 
QUOTABLE
"We wanted to play them, we wanted to get on the court with them. It' so hard to get games against these teams to win and play, so that was the goal. We got to see a very good defensive team, very gritty. It's good for us. It's not good to lose, and we didn't want to come out here and lose, but it's what we needed. This will make us better in December, January, February, and March, so that's why we did it." – head coach, Randy Bennett
 
UP NEXT
The Gaels return home next week for a midweek contest against Missouri State on Wednesday, December 7 at 7:00 pm. That will be the lone home game of the week, as the Gaels will then take on their second ranked opponent of the season in No. 24 San Diego State on Saturday afternoon on a neutral floor in Phoenix. Saturday's game against the Aztecs is the Gaels first game in the 2022 Jerry Colangelo Classic, with a return trip scheduled for December 21 against Wyoming.