MBB | Trio of 20 Point Scorers Lead Gaels to 88-82 Win Over Washington State

Saturday, January 10

Moraga, CA

2:00 PM

Saint Mary's College of California

16-2,5-0WCC

Washington State

8-10,3-2WCC

Washington St.

Saint Mary's (CA)

Josh Dent: 26 pts (career-high), 9-14 FG, 6-9 3pt, 4 ast, 5 stls

Photo by: Derek Lee

MBB | Trio of 20 Point Scorers Lead Gaels to 88-82 Win Over Washington State

1/10/2026 6:40:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Highlights

MORAGA, Calif. — Saint Mary's Men's Basketball kept both their unbeaten status in WCC play and at home alive with an 88-82 win over Washington State inside UCU Pavilion on Saturday Afternoon. The Gaels splashed a season-high 14 threes, leading them to their ninth 80+ scoring performance of the season.

Joshua Dent surpassed the 20 point mark for the fourth time in his career, dropping a career-high 26 points on 9-14 shooting and 6-9 shooting from beyond the arc. Dent also added a career best five steals, now leading the team with 25 for the year. Paulius Murauskas was not far behind, with 24 points, six rebounds and six assists. The Lithuanian national has now scored 20+ in four straight, and double figures in eight straight. Coming out of a bit of a coldspell was Mikey Lewis, who scored 20, including three made threes and a perfect 9-9 shooting from the stripe. Andrew McKeever led the Gaels with 11 boards, for his eighth double-digit rebounding game, while Dillan Shaw tallied six assists without a turnover.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Through the first five minutes of the game, the Gaels (16-2, 5-0 WCC) and Cougars (8-10, 3-2 WCC) matched each other blow for blow, with all seven lead changes happening in that stretch. Washington State took a narrow 12-11 lead, but the Gaels would respond with a 7-0 run, five of which were scored by Paulius Murauskas. The Cougs would cut the deficit to three points with 11:31 to go, but a 25-10 run would give Saint Mary's their largest lead of the game at 18 points, before eventually taking a 50-38 lead into the break. 27 of the Gaels 50 first half points came from beyond the arc, including four made threes from Joshua Dent.

The Cougars battled hard to get back into contention, cutting the deficit back to single digits just three minutes into the second half, and back to one possession at the 7:26 mark, but every time Washington State seemed to have the upper hand, the Gaels would hit a momentum killing bucket. A 12-2 run generated solely by Mikey Lewis over a 3:10 stretch would push Saint Mary's ahead 80-67 with four minutes to go, as they were able to see away the eventual 88-82 win.

GAME NOTES

Saint Mary's buried 14 three pointers in the game, their most since they drained 15 against San Diego last season (Jan. 11, 2025).
Joshua Dent led the charge with six of those threes, en route to a career-high 26 points.
Dent added five steals, also a career best.
The Gaels went a perfect 20-20 from the stripe, a new program record for a single game. The previous record of 18-18 came against LMU (Feb. 22, 2022).
Paulius Murauskas went a perfect 6-6 at the stripe, leading to his 24 points, while Mikey Lewis went 9-9, helping to his 20 points.
For the first time in over decade, the Gaels had three score 20+ in a game. The last time the Gaels accomplished this feat was in the 2013-14 season, when Stephen Holt, Brad Waldow and Kerry Carter all scored 20+ against Pacific (Jan. 18, 2014)

THE FINAL WORD

The Gaels will have a quick turnaround, taking on San Francisco at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center on Tuesday, January 13. Tip-off is set for 8 PM.

DON'T MISS OUT ON HOME MEN'S BASKETBALL ACTION. TICKETS ARE ON SALE HERE.

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