MORAGA, Calif. — The Saint Mary's Gaels duked it out with a very formidable Towson team on Monday night, earning a hard fought 76-69 victory, but the road doesn't get any easier, as they will next welcome Chattanooga to UCU Pavilion for a Thursday night tilt. Like Towson, Chattanooga is another non-conference foe for the Gaels that won 20+ games last season, and should provide a good early challenge for Saint Mary's.

THE DETAILS
Saint Mary's Gaels vs. Chattanooga Mocs
Thursday, November 7 at 7:00 PM
UCU Pavilion – Moraga, Calif.
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MILESTONES FOR MARCIULIONIS, SAXEN KNOCKING AT THE DOOR
Against Towson, senior point guard Augustas Marciulionis surpassed a couple of big milestones. With his eight assists against the Tigers, the Vilnius, Lithuania native and defending WCC Player of the Year surpassed 300 assists for his career. He is now 46 assists away from cracking the top-10 in program history. Marciulionis also recorded his 100th career steal in that contest, as he is now 19 shy of etching his name into the top-10 in that category. Only David Carter '89, Kamran Sufi '97, Matthew Dellavedova '13 and Tommy Kuhse '22 rank in the top-10 currently in program history in both of those categories. While Marciulionis reached those milestones on Monday, fifth year senior Mitchell Saxen is nearing one as well, as he is just 25 points shy of 1,000 for his career. 

ABOUT THE MOCS
After a 21 win season in 2023-24, the Chattanooga Mocs have their sights set on returning to the NCAA Tournament for the 13th time in program history and for the first time under third year Head Coach Dan Earl. Coach Earl has amassed a record of 39-30 in his first two years plus one game from this season, more wins than in any two seasons combined at his last head coaching stop at VMI, where he was for seven seasons. The Mocs finished tied for second in the SoCon last season, but were upset by seventh seeded East Tennessee State in the conference semifinals, bringing their season to a premature close. The team returns the All-SoCon backcourt of Honor Huff and Trey Bonham, but lost defensive standout Sam Alexis, who hit the portal to Florida in the offseason. In the season opener, the Mocs fell to the USC Trojans 77-51 on Monday night. Huff was the lone double digit scorer, hoisting up 15 shots, 13 of which came from beyond the arc, and connecting on five of them. Huff finished as Chattanooga's lone double digit scorer, with 17. The next biggest impact player for the Mocs was Garrison Keeslar, a transfer from DII Walsh University, who scored eight points, while leading the team with five rebounds, four assists and two steals. Chattanooga took 34 of their 54 from beyond the arc, but shot just 28% from the field and 18% from three against the Trojans. The Trojans dominated the Mocs on the interior, scoring 34 points in the paint. This is the first all-time meeting between the Gaels and Mocs. 

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