PORTLAND, Ore. — In a highly-anticipated battle of California, No. 5 Saint Mary's Men's Basketball drew No. 4 UCLA in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament. Both teams won their First Round games in drastically different fashions, after the Gaels blew out Indiana and UCLA survived a close one against Akron. Things were different on Saturday night, as the UCLA Bruins moved onto the Sweet 16 after beating the Gaels 72-56. For SMC, their season ends with a 26-8 record after reaching the Second Round for the third time in program history.
 
FIRST HALF FLOW
Saint Mary's didn't wait around quite as long as they did against Indiana to get rolling against UCLA. The Gaels didn't trail in the opening half against the Bruins until 6:30, and led by as many as seven points when the score was 20-13 with 10:16 to go in the half. The early offense was coming from Logan Johnson and Alex Ducas, who each got going from three-point range. Johnson hit a pair of three-pointers after the under-16 timeout, and then Alex Ducas followed with a three, and suddenly SMC held a 16-9 lead. UCLA then countered with a 15-2 run to open up a 30-22 lead, and held the lead for the remainder of the first half.
 
COULDN'T CLOSE THE GAP
Saint Mary's had a quick push early in the second half to trim the deficit to just four points, aided by a fast three from Tommy Kuhse. But UCLA continued to make shots in the second half, at one point knocking down seven-consecutive shots to bury Saint Mary's in a 15-point deficit with just four minutes remaining. The second-half numbers told the story in that regard, as the Bruins shot 60% from the floor in the second stanza, compared to 43.5% for SMC. That led to UCLA outscoring the Gaels 36-27.
 
AMONG OTHER NUMBERS
Points in the paint were a big story in the first half, with UCLA scoring 20 in that area, but things evened-up near the end with a 28-20 finish…both teams took care of the basketball well, but the Gaels forced just six UCLA turnovers (5-2 was the difference in the first half, with UCLA having two)…Jaime Jaquez and Johnson locked up in a great first half battle, with Jaquez scoring 15 and Johnson scoring 13…Tommy Kuhse passed current assistant coach Mickey McConnell for fifth on the SMC all-time assist list (Kuhse finished with six for the game)...four Gaels reached double-digits: Johnson (18), Tass (14), Kuhse (11), Ducas (11).
 
QUOTABLES
"We've had a great season. I'm nothing but proud of these guys and what they did this year. They did a lot - they did a lot as a team and they did a lot for our community, our school, our league. So I appreciate the effort and what they did. We lost to a good team tonight. I wish we would have played better. And I'm sure UCLA probably had something to do with that. But we didn't - it wasn't one of our better games." – head coach, Randy Bennett
 
"Yeah, today hurts. But overall, yeah, exactly what Coach and Tass said. This is an incredible group. We've done incredible things. I don't think our story ends here. But, you know, I'm sure we'll get back to it really soon. And we'll be back in this position very soon." – Logan Johnson
 
"On the positive side, I got to say, we have done some incredible things in terms of what has never been done in Saint Mary's history, for example, we were undefeated at home. We never lost two in a row. I mean, this group is special, I just got to say that. And I'm really proud of our guys. Our story should not have ended here. But unfortunately, it did." – Matthias Tass
 
THE SEASON ENDS
Despite the 2021-22 season coming to a close, the Gaels reached some impressive heights during the campaign. The Gaels won 26 games after just 14 last season, and went from four to 12 in WCC play. Four Gaels landed on the All-WCC team, and the program recorded their best seed in the history of the NCAA Tournament (five seed). The Gaels win over Indiana on Thursday night was their largest NCAA Tournament win, and put them in the Second Round for just the third time in program history.