MORAGA, Calif. — The home portion of the schedule came to a close on Thursday night for No. 15 Saint Mary's men's basketball, with a special night unfolding. The Gaels honored their seniors who played their final game inside University Credit Union Pavilion and gave them a pretty sweet reward: a championship. SMC earned at least a share of the WCC regular season title in beating Pacific by a final of 83-, improving to 25-5 (14-1) with one game left.
 
LOCKED IN
With the win, Saint Mary's has locked up at least a share of the regular season title in the West Coast Conference for the first time since the 2015-16 season. This is the fourth under head coach Randy Bennett that Saint Mary's has done so, and the seventh time in program history. The run of dominance at the top of the conference between SMC and Gonzaga cannot be overstated, but the Gaels have been worthy challengers. 16 times in the last 19 seasons have the Gaels finished either first or second in the WCC standings. This was also the first time under coach Bennett that the Gaels clinched a portion of the championship inside University Credit Union Pavilion.
 
ONE MAN ARMY
It was Senior Night for a trio of Gaels, but the night belonged to Logan Johnson. He put together another stellar game to wind down the season, and he came out of the gates like a man on a mission. He scored 20 points in the first half on 8-11 shooting, and made a pair of shots from beyond the arc. He finished the game as the leading scorer with 29 points, the fourth time in his last five games that he has scored at least 27 points. He tied a career-best with 12 made shots, and was also one assist shy of a career-best with seven.
 
SENIOR REPORT
Johnson wasn't the only senior who enjoyed a great night in his final home game. Alex Ducas was the next leading scorer for Saint Mary's, putting up 17 points in the evening in a great performance from beyond the arc. He went 4-9 from range, adding onto his numbers that already rank inside the top-10 in SMC history for most threes made. Ducas also led the Gaels in rebounds with seven, and six of those came in the first half. While it was a quiet night offensively for Kyle Bowen (just one point), he was a +35 in plus/minus, the second best for SMC on the night. He had four rebounds, three steals, and three assists.
 
FINAL NUMBERS
The second half was a dominant one for the Gaels, as they held Pacific to just 21 points at 26.3% shooting for the half…points in the paint were a huge reason that Saint Mary's won the game, outscoring the Tigers 40-16 down low…the Gaels defense was wicked good, forcing 19 turnovers from the Tigers and leading to 23 points on the SMC side (for comparison, the Gaels turned it over just six times)…Mitchell Saxen added 11 points and six rebounds, while Augustas Marciulionis had 10 points off the bench with four rebounds…only four teams are unbeaten in conference play at home over the last two seasons: Saint Mary's, Colgate, South Dakota State, and Vermont.  
UP NEXT
The Gaels will put it all on the line on Saturday night in a showdown against No. 12 Gonzaga for sole possession of the WCC Championship. If Saint Mary's wins the game, they will claim sole possession of the regular season title for the first time since the 2011-12 season. If Gonzaga wins, the teams will share the regular season title and WCC Tournament seeding will be determined based on the NCAA NET Rankings. Tip-off is at 7:00 pm on ESPN, with Dan Shulman, Jay Bilas, and Sean Farnham on the call. Fans can also catch a preview of the game on ESPN's College GameDay, which is televised at 7:00 am PT.