
Twelve points and six rebounds: Jordan Ross was one of three Gaels in double figures. / Photo by Tod Fierner for SMC Athletics
Undefeated Gaels Answer ‘Untested’ Claims with 71–51 Victory over San Francisco
Paulius Murauskas leads scoring against the Dons with 24 points. Mitchell Saxen and Jordan Ross score in double figures. Saint Mary’s is alone atop the West Coast Conference and is ranked No. 1 in the country among mid-major basketball programs.
On Thursday night at the UCU Pavilion, Saint Mary’s (17–3, 7–0 West Coast Conference) silenced any “untested” claims following their 6–0 WCC start: The Gaels took down the team nearest to them in the conference standings, San Francisco (16–6, 6–3 WCC), with an emphatic 71–51 victory. Saint Mary’s shot a season best 61.5% from the field while holding the Dons to a season-low 26.9% from the field in what was a true outmuscling of a performance on both sides of the basketball.
Paulius Murauskas broke out of a bit of a scoring lull in explosive fashion: The Kaunas, Lithuania, native dropped 24 points on 10–14 shooting from the field. The 10 made field goals tied a career-high set earlier this season at Utah. Also in double figures were Mitchell Saxen (14 points) and Jordan Ross (12 points). Saxen tied a career-high in assists with five, while Ross ripped down six boards, one off of his career mark. Luke Barrett scored six with a team best eight rebounds, playing a team-high 35 minutes. Augustas Marciulionis had a quiet scoring night with four, but he dished out six assists while shutting down his assignment defensively, limiting the conference's leading scorer, Malik Thomas, to just eight points and 1–12 shooting from the field.
The Gaels are now ranked in the top 25 in the country in NET rankings. Along with winning percentage, the NET rankings take into account game results, strength of schedule, game location, scoring margin, net offensive and defensive efficiency, and the quality of wins and losses. For the NCAA, it's both a results-driven and predictive metric.
Also for the first time this season, Saint Mary’s finds itself atop the College Insider Mid-Major Top-25. The Gaels received 23 of a possible 31 first place votes to place ahead of the likes of UC Irvine (second) and Gonzaga (third). Saint Mary’s, Gonzaga, San Francisco (11th), and Santa Clara (16th) are the WCC teams ranked on this list; Washington State and Oregon State have been deemed not eligible for this ranking.
Flow and Efficiency
Hosting USF on Australian Heritage Night, the Saint Mary’s offense continued to flow with efficiency in the first half. The Gaels shot 65% from the field and 50% from three en route to racking up 36 points. The Dons kept pace with the Gaels for nearly 15 minutes of the first frame and trailed by just one, 26–25, with a little over five minutes remaining. Saint Mary’s then proceeded to go on a 10–0 run over the next 5+ minutes, ended by a USF three pointer as time expired in the opening stanza, with the score at 36–28 in favor of the Gaels.
The Gaels’ starting bigs, Paulius Murauskas and Mitchell Saxen, did most of the first half work, scoring 12 and nine, respectively, on a combined 10–12 shooting from the field. Murauskas, Saxen, and Luke Barrett each reeled in three boards, one shy of the unlikely team leader, Jordan Ross, who ripped down four, one more than his season-per-game average. Augustas Marciulionis was held scoreless but accounted for four of the Gaels’ nine assists. Saint Mary’s dominated the Dons on the glass (+10) and in the paint (+20), while forcing USF to take 17 of their 27 shots from beyond the arc.
A Paulius Murauskas layup 37 seconds into the second half gave the Gaels a double-digit lead that would extend as far out as 26 points before ultimately settling at 20, 71–51. A nice mid-game run put the game out of reach for USF. From the 5:40 mark of the first half to the 5:19 mark of the second half—a stretch spanning 20:11—the Gaels outscored the Dons 39–14.
After being limited to just nine made field goals in the first half, the Dons saw their sails trimmed further and connected on five on 25 attempts, including a 0–10 clip from three in the second half. For the Gaels, Murauskas matched his 12 in the first half with another 12 in the second, shooting 4–6 from the field and a perfect 4–4 from the stripe. Jordan Ross chipped in eight points, going 4–5 from the field, while Mitchell Saxen scored five and a team-high three second-half assists. After coughing the ball up five times in the first half, the Gaels limited themselves to just two turnovers in the second half. Once again, excellent ball security enabled SMC to extend their lead.
“We always talk about separating, getting the lead up to eight or 10 points, and then up to 15 or 16,” said Jordan Ross after the game. “And we were really able to separate tonight!"
Paint Dominance
Whether it was the Saint Mary's front court imposing their will or the Gael guards slashing through the Dons defense, Saint Mary's got a majority of their looks from within the key and converted at a high clip, scoring 52 of their 71 points in the paint. Paulius Murauskas was the biggest contributor there, with 16 of his 24 scored within the key. Mitchell Saxen scored 12 of his 14 in the paint, with the other two points coming from the stripe, while Jordan Ross added eight of his 12 from in close. Meanwhile, the Gaels defensively shut down the Dons offense inside. USF was limited to just 12 points in the paint and had to resort to lower percentage shots from beyond the arc, where the Gaels kept them to a 6–27 clip from three.
UP NEXT: The Gaels head to Pullman, Washington to take on Washington State on Saturday, January 25. Tip off is set for 5 p.m.