MORAGA, Calif. — The Saint Mary's Gaels (17-3, 7-0 WCC) quickly silenced any "untested" claims following their 6-0 WCC start, taking down the team nearest to them in the conference standings, San Francisco (16-6, 6-3 WCC) 71-51. The Gaels shot a season best 61.5% from the field, while holding the Dons to a season-low 26.9% from the field in what was a true outmuscling of a performance on both sides of the basketball
The Gaels offense continued to flow with efficiency in the first half, as the Gaels shot 65% from the field and 50% from three en route to a 36 point first half. For the first 14:30 of the first frame, the Dons kept pace with the Gaels, as they trailed by just one, 26-25 with a little over five minutes remaining. Saint Mary's then proceeded to go on a 10-0 run over the next 5+ minutes, ended by a USF three pointer as time expired in the opening stanza with the score at 36-28 in favor of the Gaels. Saint Mary's starting bigs, Paulius Murauskas and Mitchell Saxen, did a majority of the first half work for the Gaels, scoring 12 and nine respectively on a combined 10-12 shooting from the field. Murauskas, Saxen and Luke Barrett each reeled in three boards, one shy of the unlikely team leader, Jordan Ross, who ripped down four, one more than his season per game average. Augustas Marciulionis was held scoreless, but accounted for four of the Gaels nine assists. Saint Mary's dominated the Dons on the glass (+10) and in the paint (+20), while forcing USF to take 17 of their 27 shots from beyond the arc.
A Paulius Murauskas layup 37 seconds into the second half would give the Gaels a double-digit lead that would extend as far out as 26 points before ultimately settling at 20, 71-51. After being limited to just nine made field goals in the first half, the Dons only connected on five in the second frame, on 25 attempts, including a 0-10 clip from three. Murauskas matched his 12 in the first half with another 12 in the second, shooting 4-6 from the field and a perfect 4-4 from the stripe. Jordan Ross chipped in eight points, going 4-5 from the field, while Mitchell Saxen scored five and a team high three second half assists. After coughing the ball up five times in the first half, the Gaels limited themselves to just two turnovers in the second half, once again being able to extend leads out due to excellent ball security.
Paulius Murauskas broke out of a bit of a scoring lull tonight. After scoring 11 or fewer in each of his last seven contests, the Kaunas, Lithuania native dropped 24 points on 10-14 shooting from the field. The 10 made field goals tied a career-high set earlier this season at Utah, but he converted those 10 on 15 shots, compared to tonight's 14. Also in double figures were Mitchell Saxen (14) and Jordan Ross (12), with the two having a bit of a role reversal in their other stats. Saxen tied a career-high in assists, with five, while Ross ripped down six boards, one off of his career mark. Luke Barrett scored six with a team best eight rebounds, playing a team-high 35 minutes, while Augustas Marciulionis had a quiet scoring night with four, but dished out six assists, while shutting down his assignment defensively, limiting the conference's leading scorer, Malik Thomas, to just eight points and 1-12 shooting from the field.
PAINT DOMINANCE
Whether it was the Saint Mary's front court imposing their will, or the Gael guards slashing through the Dons defense, Saint Mary's got a majority of their looks from within the key, and converted at a high clip, scoring 52 of their 71 points in the paint. Paulius Murauskas was the biggest contributor in the painted area, with 16 of his 24 scored within the key. Mitchell Saxen scored 12 of his 14 in the paint, with the other two points coming from the stripe, while Jordan Ross added eight of his 12 from in close. Meanwhile, the Gaels defensively shut down the Dons offense inside, as they were limited to just 12 points in the paint, instead forcing them to jack up lower percentage shots from beyond the arc, and limiting them to just a 6-27 clip from three.
A NICE MID-GAME RUN
With 5:40 remaining in the first half, the Gaels found themselves locked in a tight one with the Dons, with a narrow one point lead at 26-25. From that point, however, the Gaels would go on a prolonged run that would put the game well out of reach from San Francisco. Up one, the Gaels went on a 10-0 run to go up by double digits before a last second three from the Dons would end the half with the deficit at just eight. The Gaels would then proceed to extend their lead out all the way to 26 points at the 5:19 mark of the second half, as part of a 27-11 run. That said, from the 5:40 mark of the first half to the 5:19 mark of the second half (a stretch spanning 20:11), the Gaels outscored the Dons 39-14, pulling away in this one.
POSTGAME CHATS
"I thought we played well. Tonight was a little unique, I don't think we got off to a great start defensively. At one point, we were shooting 70% from the field and they were shooting 70%, and it seemed like nobody could get a stop, but we figured it out, and to hold them to 33% from the field in the first half and just 27% overall, it was a great overall performance! We played great offensively, we played great defensively, and we did a great job taking San Francisco out of what they wanted to do!" – Associate Head Coach Mickey McConnell
"Hats off to USF, they came out firing, and we had to stay tight, stay strong and we knew they'd start missing eventually. They weren't going to keep shooting like that for the full 40 minutes…We always talk about separating, getting the lead up to eight or 10 points, and then up to 15 or 16, and we were really able to separate tonight!" – Jordan Ross
UP NEXT
The Gaels will be back in action on Saturday when they head to Pullman to take on Washington State. Tip-off is set for 5 PM.
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