Exhibition road trips: Against Ole Miss, Paulius Murauskas led the Gaels with 21 points on 10–15 shooting. On his old home court in Arizona, he added 12 points. / Photo by Karina Isabel
Gaels Never Trail in Final Tune-up at Ole Miss
After a gritty showdown in the desert against Arizona, Saint Mary’s bests a Sweet 16 team from a year ago, 68–53. The official SMC Men’s Basketball season kicks off November 3 in Moraga.
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 West Coast Conference titles. In their final exhibition before their opener at home, SMC traveled to Oxford, Mississippi and downed the Ole Miss Rebels, a Sweet 16 team from a year ago. The Gaels never trailed, and they won this one 68–53.
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, for this second exhibition outing the Gaels took that 3–0 lead and extended it to as large as 17 at the 7:09 mark of the first half. Ole Miss closed 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 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.
After the halftime break, Ole Miss extended their run, outscoring SMC 33–18 and whittling 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 throws 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 they outscored the Rebels 8–4 in the second half in second-chance scoring. Those are stats that have been synonymous with Gaels basketball under Head Coach Randy Bennett over the past 24 seasons. No surprise: Look for this assault to continue as Bennett enters year 25 at the helm.
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 the one 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, Lewis, was a full-fledged starter for this outing, 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: He drilled a pair of threes, ripped down a pair of offensive boards, and came up with two steals. 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. Saint Mary’s rebounding efforts earned them +20 on the glass, and they made sure that the Rebels only got one bite at the apple nearly every trip down the floor.
Setting the Benchmark in Tucson
The Gaels’ victory in Mississippi comes just over a week after a trip to Tucson, where SMC took on the Arizona in an exhibition game on October 18. The Wildcats were coming off their third Sweet 16 in the last four years, and they brought in the second-rated recruiting class in the country. The Gaels didn’t manage to leave Tucson with a victory—that went to Arizona, 81–68—but as hoped in an exhibition outing, they came away with a benchmark of where SMC will start in 2025–26, and where they need to improve to compete and be a second weekend NCAA Tournament Team.
The Gaels erased an early six-point deficit to knot things up at 11 apiece, but the Wildcats would pull ahead by as many as 12 in the first half. Saint Mary's closed out the half on a 10–5 run to cut the deficit to seven at the halftime break.
In a homecoming of sorts, Paulius Murauskas returned to his former home court in the McKale Memorial Center, and scored eight in the first half to lead the Gaels. Mikey Lewis chipped in seven to go along with three assists, two steals, and no turnovers. Andrew McKeever scored six and ripped down seven rebounds, tallying half of the Gaels total on the glass.
Saint Mary's cut the deficit to as close as three points three in the second stanza, but a late surge pushed the Wildcats across the finish line. Second-half scoring for the Gaels was led by a pair of backcourt members, Joshua Dent and Tony Duckett. Dent scored 10 points in the second half, connecting on 5–7 field goal attempts, while also leading the Gaels with a pair of second-half dimes. Duckett, who traded in his San Diego Toreros gear for a Gaels uniform this past summer, added nine points, with six coming from the charity stripe on six attempts. Freshman Dillan Shaw also saw 13 minutes in the second half, converting on a pair of perimeter jumpers.
Joshua Dent finished the day leading all Gael scorers with 14 points on an efficient 6–9 shooting for the field. The sophomore out of Wollongong, Australia, was crafty finishing around the basket, as the Gaels continue to look for their next in a long line of star point guards. Paulius Murauskas and Tony Duckett each added 12 points; both gave fits to Arizona's defense, drawing a combined eight fouls, and converting a combined 11 of 14 free throw attempts. Mikey Lewis and Andrew McKeever both chipped in nine points, with McKeever leading the Gaels with nine boards, and Lewis leading SMC with three assists to just one turnover, plus two steals. The Gaels’ calling card from last year, rebounding, was already on display: Saint Mary's outrebounded Arizona 39–35, including 10–6 on the offensive boards, leading to a 9–6 second chance scoring lead.
The Season Begins November 3, with Coverage on ESPN+
After the pair of exhibition games in Arizona and Mississippi, the Gaels open up countable competition on Monday, November 3, as they welcome visitors from Minnesota, hosting the Tommies of St. Thomas. Tipoff in UCU Pavilion is set for 7 p.m. Pacific. The game will be carried live on ESPN+.
As the Gaels begin their 25th season under Head Coach Randy Bennett, at this game fans can also pick up a free Randy Bennett 25 button.
