MALIBU, Calif. — The Saint Mary's Gaels (16-3, 6-0 WCC) continued to defensively shut down every team in their path, defeating Pepperdine (7-12, 1-5 WCC) to complete the season sweep of the Waves. The Gaels remain the only unbeaten team in WCC play, with every other team in conference having at least two losses, and now have run the NCAA leading road winning streak to 13 in row.
The Gaels fell into an early 6-3 hole, scoring the opening bucket before surrendering a 6-0 run to the Waves. The Gaels would pull level at nine apiece on a sweet connection from Augustas Marciulionis to Paulius Murauskas for a slam and the Gaels would ride that all the way to a 35-22 halftime lead as part of a 32-16 run over the final 16 minutes of the first half. Luke Barrett led the Gaels with 12 first half points on 5-7 shooting, not leaving the floor in the half. Jordan Ross chipped in 10, going a perfect 2-2 from three. Paulius Murauskas was limited to just two points, but ripped down a team high six rebounds, while his countryman Augustas Marciulionis played the entire 20 minutes of the first half and, while held scoreless, assisted on four buckets. The Gaels had just three turnovers in the first half, as they were able to run their offense and often pass up good looks for great looks.
The Gaels again nearly doubled up on the Waves in the first 16 minutes of the second half, outscoring Pepperdine 35-17 to extend their lead out to 31, their largest of the night at 70-39. Eventually going to their bench, the Gaels took their foot of the gas pedal, winning 24, 74-50. Augustas Marciulionis scored all 10 of points in the second half, reaching 1000 for his career, Harry Wessels added six points and a team-high five boards in the second frame, while Ashton Hardaway dished out three second half dimes. Again, the Gaels limited their turnovers to just three in the second half.
Luke Barrett led the Gaels with 14 points, making him SMC's leading scorer against Pepperdine in both meetings this season. Barrett led the Gaels in rebounding as well with seven boards, including four offensive on the evening. Mitchell Saxen and Jordan Ross each added 13 points, with Saxen scoring 10 of his in the paint, and Ross scoring nine of his on a perfect 3-3 clip from beyond the arc. Augustas Marciulionis scored 10, all in the second half, to reach 1000 for his career, and dished out a team-high six assists, while coming up with a team best two steals. Harry Wessels was the biggest contributor off the bench, with seven points, seven boards and two blocks in just 13 minutes. 46 of the Gaels 74 points came in the paint. Saint Mary's also matched their season low with just six turnovers in the game, making it back-to-back games with only six giveaways.
WELCOME TO THE 1000 POINT CLUB
Point guard Augustas Marciulionis reached the 1000 point mark for his career with his 10th point this evening, making him the second Gael this season, and the sixth in the last six years (Jordan Ford, Tommy Kuhse, Logan Johnson, Alex Ducas, Mitchell Saxen) to reach the 1000 point mark. Marciulionis is the 41st ever Gael to score 1000 points for his career. He has been the Gaels leading scorer this season, in his quest to repeat as WCC Player of the Year.
BARRETT SHREDS THESE WAVES
For the second time this season, Luke Barrett led the Gaels to victory over Pepperdine. In their first meeting this season, the fifth year senior scored a team-high 16 points while ripping down seven boards. Tonight, he kept his hot streak against Pepperdine going with a team best 14 points and seven rebounds. Barrett has scored at least 14 points in each of his last three contests against Pepperdine dating back to last season. Defensively, Barrett once again shined with his matchup against the WCC's second leading scorer, Stefan Todorovic. After limiting him to ten points in Moraga 16 days ago, Barrett again gave very little space to Todorovic, who jacked up 16 shots, and converted on just seven of them, with a majority of those shots extremely contested by Barrett.
POSTGAME CHATS
"I'm not a guy who has the ball in my hands a lot, so my strong offense tonight and any night is always a result of my teammates giving me good looks, and they are always doing that." – Luke Barrett on his hot play against Pepperdine this year
"Luke's development has been awesome to watch, and it's a testament to all of the hard work and time that he has put in. When we took him five years ago, we thought he could be good for us, we just didn't know how long he would take to develop, and he's really become an incredible leader and an incredible hard worker. He's really a product of what we want our program to be all about!" – Associate Head Coach Mickey McConnell on Luke Barrett's development
UP NEXT
The Gaels will host San Francisco on Thursday, January 23. Tip off is set for 6 PM inside UCU Pavilion.
DON'T MISS OUT ON HOME MEN'S BASKETBALL ACTION. TICKETS ARE ON SALE HERE.
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