Unstoppable: Mikey Lewis scored 23 points. He did it on the outside, with a pair of made threes. He did it on the interior, with three makes inside the arc. And he did it from the stripe, shooting at a perfect 6–6 clip. / Photo by Tod Fierner
Undefeated Gaels Keep Things Rolling With 31-Point Victory over North Texas
Mikey Lewis leads the way in the 80–49 win with 23 points. Paulius Murauskas logs a double-double. On full display: that stymying Gaels defense and domination on the glass.
Things are not looking good for teams rolling into UCU Pavilion in the early goings of the 2025–26 NCAA Men's Basketball season. On Friday night the Saint Mary’s Gaels (4–0) continued to defend their home court with furious vigor, downing North Texas (3–2) 80–49. The 31-point victory is the largest margin for Saint Mary’s this season.
Dating back to last season, the Gaels have now won 13 straight contests at home. As emphatic as the victory was, the 80 points for the Geals is the lowest tally they have scored this season. The 49 points allowed was far more on-brand for a team coached by Randy Bennett; it was the first time this season that the Gaels held an opponent under 50.
For the third time in four contests this year, Mikey Lewis surpassed the 20-point threshold, scoring 23 on 50% shooting from the field and from three, while remaining perfect from the stripe. Paulius Murauskas logged his first double-double of 2025–26, going for 15 points and 11 boards; last season he led the West Coast Conference 13 double-doubles. Point guard Joshua Dent scored 10 while dishing out seven dimes, a new career high, while only giving up one turnover. Rounding out the double-digit scoring efforts was Dillan Shaw, who reached double figures for the first time in his career, also scoring 10.
A 30-Point Halftime Lead
It was a showing of brute force from the Gaels in half one. Saint Mary’s, after falling behind 5–4, went on an 11–0 run, one of three double-digit scoring runs in the first half, to take an incredible 30 point lead into the halftime break. Driving each and every one of those runs was the stellar play of Mikey Lewis, who scored 18 of the Gaels’ 47 points in the first half. He did it on the outside, with a pair of made threes. He did it on the interior, with three makes inside the arc. And he did it from the stripe, shooting at a perfect 6–6 clip.
While the margin of lead at the half was impressive, possibly even more notable was the Gaels’ 33–8 advantage on the boards. Harry Wessels led the charge off the bench with seven, with Paulius Murauskas and Andrew McKeever each chipping in six. This helped the Gaels to a 14–0 second chance scoring advantage in the frame.
Salting Away Victory
North Texas came out of the gates on a 12–6 run to open half number two, but the Gaels quickly righted the ship with an 11–0 run of their own to boost their lead to 35 points with 12:40 to play. The Mean Green never got within 30 points of the Gaels from that point on.
While the SMC offense cooled off a bit in the second half, the Gaels kept up the physical tenacity on the court as they salted away the 31 point victory, their largest margin of victory this season. Paulius Murauskas carried the team across the finish line, scoring 13 of his 15 points in the second half, while ripping down five more rebounds.
A New Benchmark—and Classic Gaels Strategy
To start the 2025–26 campaign, Saint Mary’s is hitting offensive benchmarks never seen before inside UCU Pavilion. The last time the Gaels opened a season with four straight 80+ point scoring contests was all the way back in the 1977–78 campaign, the final year that the Gaels played inside Madigan Gymnasium. The last time the Gaels scored 80+ in four consecutive games overall wasn’t quite as far back: In the 2018–19 season, Saint Mary’s racked up more than 80 points in four victories in a row over Cal, Bethune-Cookman, New Mexico, and Cal State Fullerton.
Friday night’s rendition of Gaels Basketball looked a bit more reminiscent of squads in recent history for two clear reasons: stymying defense and rebounding domination. Due to Saint Mary’s suffocating defense, North Texas connected on fewer than 10 field goals in both the first and second half, and not a single player shot better than 50% from the field. The Mean Green were held to 23.4% shooting from the field and just 49 points, their lowest tallies since 2022–23 and 2023–24 respectively. In fact, the last time North Texas shot sub-30% in a game was also inside UCU Pavilion against the Gaels, nearly three years ago to the day: November 13, 2022.
As for rebounding, the Gaels finished +31 on the glass. Paulius Murauskas led the way with 11 boards for the Gaels, while Andrew McKeever and Harry Wessels each ripped down nine while splitting time at the center position.
Rebounding is a category in which Saint Mary’s led the country in a year ago. But it’s notable that despite leading the nation in that stat, last year the Gaels did not have a single game in which their rebound margin was +30. The last time Saint Mary's accomplished this was in the season opener of the 2023–24 season, when they finished +37 on the board over Stanislaus State.
Up Next: Gaels vs. Red Wolves
The Gaels next welcome another team who found its way into the 2025 NIT: Arkansas State makes their way to Moraga on Wednesday, November 19. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. inside UCU Pavilion. Purchase tickets and watch the game on ESPN+.
Story updated November 16 at 3 p.m. with additional photos.
