MORAGA, Calif. — The Saint Mary's Gaels (9-1) had never won in the Huntsman Center coming into this one, with their last win at Utah coming in 1958. That changed tonight, as the Gaels downed the Utes (6-2) in front of a raucous home crowd 72-63, avenging last season's home loss to Utah. While this was just the Gaels first true road win of the season, they remain unbeaten on the road for all of last and this season, with their last road loss coming in February of 2023 against Gonzaga in Spokane.
The Gaels were equal parts brilliant on offense and defense in half one. Saint Mary's jumped out to a double digit lead less than seven minutes in, and kept it that way for the remainder of the half, extending their lead to 17 points at 39-22 at the half. Utah entered this one averaging 34 points per game in first halves, but the Gaels stymied them to just 22 points on 24% shooting and 20% three point shooting. Paulius Murauskas led the offense with 11 points and four rebounds, while Luke Barrett did not miss from the field or stripe with seven while not leaving the floor. Harry Wessels led the rebounding front with five to go along with four points, all at the line, while Augustas Marciulionis had four assists to go along with five points. Both teams turned the ball over seven times, but the Gaels turned Utah's seven giveaways into eight points, while Utah was limited to just two points off of turnovers due to some stellar transition defense by the Gaels.
Saint Mary's extended their lead out to 21 points at 46-25 two minutes into the second half before Utah mounted a furious comeback effort. Over the next five minutes, the Utes would go on an 18-3 run to cut the deficit to just six points. The Gaels would do a good job keeping the Utes at arms length, keeping the game at two possessions until the four minute left, the Utes got within two and had a chance to make it one with a free throw. The bonus shot was missed, and Paulius Murauskas would go on to hit three triples in the next six positions, putting the proverbial nail in the coffin, as the Gaels closed things out with a 72-63 victory. Muruaskas scored 18 second half points, going 4-5 from three. Andrew McKeever playing big minutes following Mitchell Saxen fouling out, led the way with four rebounds, while going 2-2 from the field in the second half. Augustus Marciulionis added four more assists, as he, Murauskas and Barrett did not leave the court in the second half.
Paulius Murauskas was the hero for the Gaels tonight with career-high 29 points to go along with seven rebounds. Muruaskas shot 10-15 from the field, and shot 6-10 from three after entering the night 6-27 from beyond the arc. Augustas Marciulionis added 10 points and eight assists, while Andrew McKeever score six points and led the team with eight rebounds, going a perfect 3-3 from the field. Luke Barrett did not leave the floor for the entire 40 minutes. He entered the contest ranked third in the country in minutes played per game, and will likely jump even higher after this performance.
MEET PAULIUS, THE SHARPSHOOTER
Throughout the early going of this season, Gaels fans have gotten to know Paulius Murauskas, the bruising power forward who outmuscles any opposing four man in his path. That said, at his previous stop in Tucson, Murauskas did most of his damage as a three point shooter, knocking down triples at an impressive 52% clip. Tonight, that Paulius Murauskas was on display, as he buried 6-10 three point attempts, after opening his season 6-27 in the previous nine games. Murauskas became the first Gael since Alex Ducas to bury six threes in a contest, Ducas doing so against Santa Clara last year in the WCC Semifinals. While Murauskas was on tonight from beyond the arc, he always dominated in multiple other facets of the game, including going 4-5 from inside the arc, 3-3 from the stripe, and reeling in seven rebounds.
MCKEEVER ANSWERS THE CALL
When both Mitchell Saxen and Harry Wessels picked up two fouls in the first half, the Gaels went to Andrew McKeever off the bench for his first first half action of the season. McKeever impressed with one made field goal on one attempt, four rebounds, good for second most on the team in the first half, and one blocked shot. The Gaels then went back to McKeever in the second half as Saxen got into deeper foul trouble, as he hit two more field goals (on two more attempts) and four more rebounds, leading to his team-high eight for the night. McKeever played a career-high 21 minutes tonight, and has now made 10 of his first 11 field goal attempts to open his career.
THREE POWER FOUR DUBS
Saint Mary's picked up their third Power Four victory in four tries this season, marking their first time accomplishing this feat since 2021-22 when they defeated Notre Dame, Oregon and Indiana. It is just the third time in the Bennett era that the Gaels have defeated three Power-Fours in the same season.
QUOTABLE
"The coaching staff has been preparing me to play all week, and I knew that I just needed to come in and shut down Utah's bigs defensively. Offensively, I didn't have the biggest role, but we have a lot of guys who can score for us. I knew my role was to shutdown the Utes inside defensively and I was able to do that tonight." – Andrew McKeever on his season-high 21 minutes played tonight
"Transition defense and perimeter defense were huge for us tonight, especially in the first half. When you come in as a road team, and can build a double-digit lead as we did in the first half, primarily defending a really good offensive team in Utah, it puts you in really good shape. I think we were really good on both ends of the court today, and I am really proud of how locked in our guys were tonight." – Associate Head Coach Mickey McConnell on his teams performance
UP NEXT
The Gaels will have a week off before heading to Idaho Falls for a neutral site game vs Boise State. Tip off for that one is scheduled for 6 PM PST on 12/14.
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