MORAGA, Calif. — In what was easily their best all-around showing on the young West Coast Conference season, the Saint Mary's Gaels (12-6, 3-0 WCC) took care of business against the Portland Pilots (7-10, 1-1 WCC) to the tune of a 95-52 victory. The Gaels defended their home court with pride in their conference opener, dominating from the opening tip to the final horn. All 12 active Gaels appeared in the contest and each had a hand in the decisive victory. 

It was a dream first half for the Gaels, who used a three point barrage to get early separation from the Pilots. The Gaels first five made buckets were all from downtown from either Alex Ducas or Aidan Mahaney. Portland looked to respond early, cutting the deficit to eight points at 22-14, but the Gaels answered with a 23-0 run, to open their lead beyond the 30 point mark. While the Pilots did eventually stop the bleeding, the offensive onslaught continued for Saint Mary's, who took a 56-23 lead into the break. Aidan Mahaney led all scorers with 19 points in the first frame, while Alex Ducas added 15 to go along with a team-high five boards. That duo shot a combined 10-14 from beyond the arc. Augustas Marciulionis continued his stellar point guard play with seven points and six assists. 

While the Gaels cooled off a tick in the second half, their defense continued to stifle the Pilots attack, as the Saint Mary's lead continued to grow throughout the half. By the time the clock hit zeroes, Saint Mary's had built a 43 point cushion between themselves and Portland, cruising to victory. Harry Wessels had a solid second half for the Gaels, scoring eight points and reeling in six boards, while Joshua Jefferson scored seven and assisted on four more buckets. 

For the second time in as many weeks, Aidan Mahaney matched his career-high of 25 points, while setting a new career mark of seven made three pointers to lead all scorers. He has now scored 25 on five separate occasions, including three times this season. Not far behind Aidan was Alex Ducas, who tallied 17 points on 6-9 shooting, including 5-7 from beyond the arc, while falling just one rebound shy of his second career double-double. While both Aidan and Alex had huge scoring nights, arguably the player with the biggest contribution to the win was Joshua Jefferson. Jefferson scored 14 points, two shy of his career-high, while adding five rebounds, a career-high eight assists with no turnovers, and a career-best six steals, all in just 24 minutes of play. 

THE STAT SHEET STUFFER
Sophomore power forward Joshua Jefferson has had some big games for the Gaels this season, however, tonight's performance might have been his best. The Las Vegas native scored 14 points on 5-8 shooting, imposing his will on the interior. Jefferson also added five board, as he continues to be a steadfast rebounder for the Gaels. Where Joshua truly shined, however, were as a passer and on defense. The Gaels played inside out basketball from the get-go, and Joshua took full advantage of the opportunity to show his unselfishness. The big man dished out a career-high eight assists, double his previous high set against Northern Kentucky and Davidson earlier this season, while not turning the ball over once. On the defensive front, Joshua was the Pilots worst nightmare. Often matched up with point guard Tyler Robertson, Jefferson made sure nothing came easy on the Portland offense, coming up with a career-high six steals and coming up inches shy of a few more, with multiple deflections throughout the contest. While Gaels fans have become used to seeing the star power of Ducas, Mahaney and Saxen, Joshua Jefferson continues to demonstrate why he too is a star in this Gaels program. 

SHARING THE ROCK WITH EVERYONE BUT PORTLAND
One game after putting up a 4:1 assists to turnover ratio against LMU, the Gaels were back at it again, this time racking up a season high 25 assists to just five turnovers for an assist to turnover ratio of 5:1. The 25 assists were the most since the 2017-18 season, when the Gaels dished out 28 in a 91-67 victory at Pepperdine. The last time the Gaels reached or surpassed a 5:1 assist to turnover ratio was also in the 2017-18 season against Pepperdine, but came inside UCU Pavilion in a 75-61 victory in which they had 17 assists to just three turnovers. For the last time the Gaels turned the ball over less than 10 times in back-to-back contests, you needn't go back too far, as they did it in three consecutive games last season in back-to-back victories over BYU and Pacific, however, over the past 15 seasons, this is the first time that the Gaels have had five or less turnovers in back-to-back contests.

WELCOME TO THE SCORING SHEET, KEVIN GAD!
For the first time in his young collegiate career, redshirt freshman wing Kevin Gad scored, knocking down a couple of buckets in the waning minutes of this one. Gad first reeled in an offensive board and, without returning to the hardwood, flipped the ball up and in as the shot clock expired for his first collegiate bucket. He followed that up with a wing three that touched nothing but net for his first collegiate triple. With Gad's scoring effort tonight, every active Gael has scored this season.

UP NEXT
The Gaels will head southwest to Santa Clara for a date with the Broncos at 4 PM on Saturday, January 13.

DON'T MISS OUT ON HOME MEN'S BASKETBALL ACTION. TICKETS ARE ON SALE HERE. 

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