MORAGA, Calif. — Saint Mary's Men's Basketball broke out their red uniforms on Saturday night as they welcomed in BYU for a pivotal WCC clash. Saint Mary's needed a win on Saturday to all but wrap up the second seed in the WCC, while BYU needed a victory to avoid staying on the outside-looking-in of the NCAA Tournament selection committee. After falling on the road in Provo in January, the Gaels proved that game was a fluke, with their offense putting up just enough points to hold off the Cougars to a 69-64 win. Saint Mary's improves to 22-6 (10-3) while the drop BYU to 19-9 (7-6).
 
KUHSE KEEPS GOING
Last season, Tommy Kuhse was the Gaels lead-man on offense until about midway through the year when his numbers started to decline. This season, he is picking up steam as the year goes on. Kuhse was the Gaels offense early on, scoring an incredible 20 first-half points en route to 25 in the ballgame, eclipsing his season-best that he had set just two nights prior against San Francisco. There wasn't much wrong with Kuhse's game, as he went 3-3 from distance in the first half, and made 10 shots on the night. He also added four assists and three rebounds, and played great defense on whichever BYU guard he was locked up with. Kuhse has now scored 20 points in consecutive games for the first time in his career.
 
PULLING AHEAD
The Gaels led by only four points at halftime, but used a 16-2 run early in the second half to balloon the lead up to 16 points. With SMC in front 46-44, Kuhse knocked down his fourth triple of the night to kickstart the rally. Logan Johnson delivered on a tough layup, and then Kyle Bowen knocked down his first shots of the night, both corner threes, and suddenly the Gaels were up 57-44. Johnson came out of a BYU timeout and scored the next five points for the Gaels to give Saint Mary's a 62-46 lead with eight minutes remaining, and it seemed like the game was in tow.
 
NOT SO FAST
BYU came roaring back in the final minutes after they held the Gaels to just seven more points in the final eight minutes, and without a field goal over the last 4:24. Alex Barcello began to take over the game, as the leading scorer for the Cougars scored nine points in the final eight minutes of the game, including a deep three with 1:46 left to make it a 67-64 Gaels lead, forcing Randy Bennett to call a timeout. While Saint Mary's was starting to get leaky on defense, they tightened up for the final two minutes and kept BYU off the scoreboard to secure the win.
 
ODDS AND ENDS
Three Gaels reached double-figures on Saturday, with Kuhse leading the way with 25, Johnson recording 17, and Matthias Tass reaching 10…the Gaels forced BYU into 17 turnovers, including a whopping 12 in the second half (the Gaels recorded 10+ steals for the second game in a row)…only two points were scored off the bench by the Gaels, courtesy of Mitchell Saxen in the second half…the Gaels never trailed on Saturday night and were only tied on four occasions…Saint Mary's shot exactly 13-27 in both halves and won the game by the same margin they did on Thursday night.  
UP NEXT
With one week remaining in the regular season, Saint Mary's will travel down to San Diego on Thursday night for a 7:00 pm start. This marks the final road game of the regular season for the Gaels, who handed USD an 86-57 loss on February 10 in Moraga. The regular season concludes on ESPN on Saturday night as SMC hosts No. 1 Gonzaga for Senior Night.
 
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