Saint Mary’s tops Santa Clara 86-67, moves closer to another NCAA tournament berth – The Mercury News
MORAGA — Saint Mary’s extended its program record with its 25th straight home win on Wednesday night.
If the Gaels reach No. 26 on Saturday night they will have a share of the West Coast Conference’s unprecedented fourth straight championship.
Saint Mary’s used a 19-2 run spanning two halves and a rebounding performance to avenge an earlier loss at Santa Clara by downing the Broncos 86-67 in a battle of second-place teams.
The Gaels (26-4, 15-2) will be at home Saturday night for their latest contest against their two-decade rival Gonzaga. Tipoff is 7:30 pm for a sold-out ESPN matchup. The Zags, who left the WCC to rebuild the Pac-12 next season, will make their final appearance in Moraga as a conference rival.
Gonzaga (28-2, 16-1) won at least a share of the WCC title on Wednesday with an 89-48 victory over Portland, handing the Zags their only conference loss.
The Gaels, who started the day at No. 26 in the NET rankings, are one big step closer to securing a fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament bid.
Gonzaga beat the Gaels 73-65 in Spokane last month, but the teams have split their 10th meeting since the start of the 2022-23 season.
The Broncos (23-7, 14-3), who were No. 41 in the NET and hoping to complete a two-game, regular-season sweep of the Gaels for the first time since 2005, will close the regular season Saturday at home against Oregon State. SCU is chasing its first NCAA berth since 1996.
Saint Mary’s led by five points with five minutes left in the first half, leading by 23 points in the final minutes.
Sophomore guard Mike Lewis of Oakland had the worst game for Saint Mary’s, tallying 21 points, seven assists and four steals. Point guard Joshua Dent had 14 points and eight assists.
Gaels forwards Paulius Muruaskas (16 points, 11 rebounds) and Dillan Shaw (11 points, 14 rebounds) and Harry Wessels (10 points, 10 rebounds) helped Saint Mary’s build a 51-21 rebounding margin that sparked a 30-9 advantage in second-chance points.
Forward Allen Graves scored 20 points off the bench to lead the Broncos.
Saint Mary’s jumped on the Broncos, racing to an 11-2 lead after back-to-back 3-pointers from Dent.
Santa Clara responded with a 13-3 run fueled by its bench. Graves, who was uncertain to play after tweaking an ankle last Saturday against San Francisco, converted a three-point play and hit a 3-pointer and Sash Gavalyugov scored five points as the Broncos took a 15-14 lead with 12:54 left.
The Broncos’ advantage reached 31-25 after a 3-pointer by Thierry Darlan, who participated in the first half with 25 points by the SCU bench.
But Saint Mary’s closed the half with a 13-2 run that included six points by Murauskas and led 42-36 at halftime.
