Sunday, October 26
Oxford, Miss
9:30 AM
Saint Mary's College of California
at
Mississippi
Paulius Murauskas: 21 Points (Team-High), 9 Rebounds (Team-High), 10-15 FG
MBB | Gaels Never Trail in Final Tune Up at Ole Miss
10/26/2025 12:44:00 PM | Men's Basketball
OXFORD, MIss. — Just eight days out from the start of the NCAA Men's Basketball season, the Saint Mary's Gaels looked primed and ready to defend their back-to-back-to-back WCC titles, as in their final exhibition before their opener, SMC downed the Ole Miss Rebels, a Sweet 16 team from a year ago, 68-53, never trailing in a gritty road showing.
Saint Mary's won the opening tip, and 18 seconds later Kevin Gad drilled a triple to get the Gaels off and running. After never holding a lead in their first exhibition at Arizona a week ago, the Gaels would take the 3-0 lead and extend it to as large as 17 at 33-16 at the 7:09 mark of the first half. Ole Miss would close out the half on a 10-2 run to cut the deficit to just nine at the halftime break, but the Gaels were able to showcase their physical, gritty brand of basketball to the South, to the tune of a +8 rebound advantage, +6 offensive rebounding advantage and a 7-0 second chance point scoring advantage. Mikey Lewis led the offensive efforts for the Gaels in the first half with 13 points on 5-8 shooting and a 3-4 clip from beyond the arc. Paulius Murauskas added nine points to go along with a team-high seven boards and three assists in the opening frame, while Kevin Gad scored five and forced two steals in just eight minutes of action.
Ole Miss extended their 10-2 run they took into the halftime break to a 33-18 run in total to whittle the deficit all the way down to two points. Enter Paulius Murauskas, who generated a 10-2 run all by himself to push the Gaels back in front by double digits at 61-50. A pair of free throw makes from both Andrew McKeever and Mikey Lewis, and a Dillan Shaw three were the cherry on top of a momentous exhibition victory that the Gaels will look to ride into countable competition next week. Murauskas finished the second half with 12 points in just 11 minutes of play. Joshua Dent did not leave the floor in the second half, and, while only scoring four points in the half, dished out five dimes. Andrew McKeever was able to use his big 7-2 frame to rip down six boards and block two shots to make life difficult for any Rebel player attempting to make their way into the paint. The Gaels were +12 on the glass in the second half, +4 on the offensive boards and outscored the Rebels 8-4 in the second half in second chance scoring, all stats that have been synonymous with Randy Bennett basketball over the past 24 seasons, and look to continue to be so here entering year 25.
The Gaels finished with a pair of 20+ point scorers. Paulius Murauskas led the way with 21 points on 10-15 shooting, while also ripping down nine boards. The junior from Lithuania was who the Gaels leaned on late as Ole Miss mounted their comeback effort. Mikey Lewis finished with 20, doing most of his damage in the first half, helping the Gaels build their early double-digit lead. The defending WCC Sixth Man of the Year, was a full fledged starter today, playing 35 minutes, and burying four three pointers, three in the first half on his first three attempts. Kevin Gad earned the start at the three for Saint Mary's and immediately demonstrated why, drilled a pair of threes, ripping down a pair of offensive boards and coming up with two steals, as the redshirt junior finished as the Gaels third leading scorer with eight points. Joshua Dent chipped in seven with a team-high eight assists, while Andrew McKeever scored five and brought down nine rebounds (four offensive) and swatted away two blocks. The Gaels defense made nothing easy for Ole Miss, holding them to 37% from the field and just 1-14 from three, while their gritty rebounding effort (+20 on the glass) made sure that the Rebels only got one bite at the apple nearly every trip down the floor.
The Gaels will open up countable competition on Monday, November 3 as they welcome in the Tommies of St. Thomas. Tip off for that one is set for 7 PM.
DON'T MISS OUT ON HOME MEN'S BASKETBALL ACTION. TICKETS ARE ON SALE HERE.
#GaelsRise
Saint Mary's won the opening tip, and 18 seconds later Kevin Gad drilled a triple to get the Gaels off and running. After never holding a lead in their first exhibition at Arizona a week ago, the Gaels would take the 3-0 lead and extend it to as large as 17 at 33-16 at the 7:09 mark of the first half. Ole Miss would close out the half on a 10-2 run to cut the deficit to just nine at the halftime break, but the Gaels were able to showcase their physical, gritty brand of basketball to the South, to the tune of a +8 rebound advantage, +6 offensive rebounding advantage and a 7-0 second chance point scoring advantage. Mikey Lewis led the offensive efforts for the Gaels in the first half with 13 points on 5-8 shooting and a 3-4 clip from beyond the arc. Paulius Murauskas added nine points to go along with a team-high seven boards and three assists in the opening frame, while Kevin Gad scored five and forced two steals in just eight minutes of action.
Ole Miss extended their 10-2 run they took into the halftime break to a 33-18 run in total to whittle the deficit all the way down to two points. Enter Paulius Murauskas, who generated a 10-2 run all by himself to push the Gaels back in front by double digits at 61-50. A pair of free throw makes from both Andrew McKeever and Mikey Lewis, and a Dillan Shaw three were the cherry on top of a momentous exhibition victory that the Gaels will look to ride into countable competition next week. Murauskas finished the second half with 12 points in just 11 minutes of play. Joshua Dent did not leave the floor in the second half, and, while only scoring four points in the half, dished out five dimes. Andrew McKeever was able to use his big 7-2 frame to rip down six boards and block two shots to make life difficult for any Rebel player attempting to make their way into the paint. The Gaels were +12 on the glass in the second half, +4 on the offensive boards and outscored the Rebels 8-4 in the second half in second chance scoring, all stats that have been synonymous with Randy Bennett basketball over the past 24 seasons, and look to continue to be so here entering year 25.
The Gaels finished with a pair of 20+ point scorers. Paulius Murauskas led the way with 21 points on 10-15 shooting, while also ripping down nine boards. The junior from Lithuania was who the Gaels leaned on late as Ole Miss mounted their comeback effort. Mikey Lewis finished with 20, doing most of his damage in the first half, helping the Gaels build their early double-digit lead. The defending WCC Sixth Man of the Year, was a full fledged starter today, playing 35 minutes, and burying four three pointers, three in the first half on his first three attempts. Kevin Gad earned the start at the three for Saint Mary's and immediately demonstrated why, drilled a pair of threes, ripping down a pair of offensive boards and coming up with two steals, as the redshirt junior finished as the Gaels third leading scorer with eight points. Joshua Dent chipped in seven with a team-high eight assists, while Andrew McKeever scored five and brought down nine rebounds (four offensive) and swatted away two blocks. The Gaels defense made nothing easy for Ole Miss, holding them to 37% from the field and just 1-14 from three, while their gritty rebounding effort (+20 on the glass) made sure that the Rebels only got one bite at the apple nearly every trip down the floor.
The Gaels will open up countable competition on Monday, November 3 as they welcome in the Tommies of St. Thomas. Tip off for that one is set for 7 PM.
DON'T MISS OUT ON HOME MEN'S BASKETBALL ACTION. TICKETS ARE ON SALE HERE.
#GaelsRise
Players Mentioned
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