Perfect clip: Vangelis Zougris scored 11 points on perfect 5–5 shooting. / Photo by Tod Fierner for SMC Athletics
It’s Raining Threes: Gaels Break Single Game Record in 105–64 Offensive Deluge vs. North Dakota State
Five players in new Head Coach Mickey McConnell’s squad reached double-figures: Joshua Dent with 17, Rory Hawke with 15, Darius Bivins with 12, Vangelis Zougris with 11, and Jeremy Dent-Smith with 10.
While a light rain has punctuated some recent autumn days in Moraga, there was a torrential downpour of three-pointers inside UCU Pavilion Wednesday evening. In an offensive deluge, the Gaels buried a program-record 20 treys en route to a 105–64 victory over North Dakota State. The game marked the first time in nearly two years that the Gaels have broken the century mark, as new Head Coach Mickey McConnell’s squad demonstrated their offensive firepower from start to finish against the Bison.
Five different Saint Mary’s players reached double figures in the 41-point victory, led by a 17-point effort from Joshua Dent. The Wollongong, Australia native went a stellar 6–7 from the field, burying five of six three point attempts, and also dishing out six assists with just one turnover.
Fellow Aussie Rory Hawke was even more efficient, knocking down all six of his field goal attempts, including three triples, for a career-best 15 points. True freshman Darius Bivins reached double figures for the second consecutive game in his career, scoring 12 and adding six assists with just one turnover. And once again Vangelis Zougris did not miss from the field, scoring 11 points on a perfect 5–5 clip.
Rounding out the double-digit scorers was Jeremy Dent-Smith, who joined Bivins as the second Gael in double figures off the bench. Mantas Juzenas came up just shy of his second consecutive double-double, finishing with nine points to go along with a team-leading 11 boards and seven assists while only giving up one turnover.
Those Triples and a Buzzer-Beating Bucket
Joshua Dent canned the first basket of the game, a corner triple that was a sign of great things to come all night long for the Gaels. After North Dakota State took their first and only lead of the game at 5–3, the Gaels erased it just 19 seconds later. Saint Mary’s then went on a 10–0 run that gave them a relentless wave of momentum.
The Gaels’ lead ballooned all the way up to 22 points with 35 ticks remaining in the half before the Bison went on a 5–0 run of their own. This run slightly quieted the raucous Moraga crowd—but they were quickly brought back to their feet as Darius Bivins went coast-to-coast with five seconds remaining in the half to lay in a finger roll at the buzzer. That gave SMC a 45–26 lead going into the break. And the buzzer-beating bucket gave Bivins 10 first-half points, two shy of the Gaels’ leader, Dent, with 12.
As good as the Gaels’ offense was in the first half—shooting 59.3% on field goals, 56.3% on three-pointers—that offense was unstoppable in the second frame. Saint Mary's exploded for 60 points on 74.2% shooting and 73.3% three-point shooting.
Saint Mary’s opened up the second half on a 14–2 run to take its first 30-point lead in the game. The Gaels got the lead north of 40 points on a Trent MacLean triple with 4:47 to go, and when the final buzzer sounded, it was 105–64 Gaels.
Breaking a Decade-old Record
With 20 three-pointers, Saint Mary’s broke the program’s single-game three-point record. The previous record of 19 was set back on December 14, 2015 against Cal Poly.
Those 105 points are the most scored by the Gaels since they dropped 107 in the 2023–24 season opener against Stanislaus State. Following on Monday night’s 90–85 win over Illinois State, this makes the first time that the Gaels have scored 90 or more points in back-to-back games since December of 2015, when they did so against Cal Poly and Southern Utah.
On Wednesday, the Gaels shot better than 65% from the field for the first time since November 2019 vs. Sonoma State. The 39 field goals against North Dakota State are the most for Saint Mary’s since February 2024 vs. Pepperdine—which is also the last time they had shot better than 60% from three. En route to victory, the Gaels dished out more than 30 assists for the first time in more than 15 years: a November 2010 game against Chicago State.
As for individual players: Joshua Dent shot 80% or better from the field for the third time in his career. Rory Hawke (15 points) and Vangelis Zougris (11 points) combined to shoot a perfect 11–11 from the field. This is the first documented time in program history that two different Gaels both shot 100% from the field, each with at least five makes.
Darius Bivins has become the first Gael true freshman since Mikey Lewis to score in double figures in each of his first two contests. The program record for consecutive double-digit scoring efforts to open a career as a freshman belongs to Matthew Dellavedova, who began his career with five straight double-digit scoring games.
Wednesday night’s game served up another special element: When the deluge was done, not one Gael had played more than nine minutes in the second half, with all 14 active players seeing the floor. The game also saw four Gaels make their collegiate debuts: Flynn Pavely, Cooper Lewis, Trent MacLean, and Sam Curvy—with Pavely, Lewis, and MacLean all scoring their first collegiate buckets.
Up Next: Gaels vs. Wolf Pack in Caesars Lake Tahoe Classic
The Gaels leave the friendly confines of UCU Pavilion for the first time this year, heading to the Tahoe Blue Events Center in Stateline, Nevada, for the Caesars Lake Tahoe Classic. For this neutral-site clash, they face the University of Nevada. Tip-off on Sunday, November 8, is slated for 1:30 p.m.
