The West Coast Conference-leading Saint Mary’s men’s basketball team had won eight games in a row, the previous four by an average of 33 points, when they welcomed LMU to Moraga on Saturday. Second-place Gonzaga had beaten Pacific 19 straight times when it arrived in Stockton.
Easy pickings, right? Someone forget to share that script with the Lions and Tigers who provided a reminder of what remains true in college hoops: Conference games are rarely easy, even if they appear to be from the outside.
The Gaels (16-6, 7-0) and Zags (15-5, 6-1) prevailed, but both had their hands full much of the night.
LMU, hoping to conjure the magic that contributed to a 78-74 overtime conquest of the Gaels in Los Angeles last season, battled all night in a game that featured 13 lead changes. Saint Mary’s finally went in front for good with 3:19 left on a 3-pointer by Joshua Jefferson, paving the way to a 70-65 victory.
The Gaels got a career-high 25 points from point guard Augustas Marciulionis, who scored seven points in the final five minutes and also recorded seven assists with just a single turnover in 40 minutes on the floor. Outscoring LMU, 18-3, from the free throw line, Saint Mary’s won for the 13th time in its past 14 games.
The Lions (10-11, 3-4), who became just the second team all season to outrebound the Gaels, shot 52 percent against the league’s best defensive team and got 15 points each from Will Johnston and Keli Leaupepe.
LMU’s reward for such a valiant effort: A Tuesday appointment against Gonzaga at The Kennel. Tipoff is 8 p.m. on ESPN.
The Zags had their own challenging assignment on Saturday at Pacific, which drew a season-high crowd of 3,164 fans to cheer on their team against an opponent accustomed to being the biggest game on everyone’s schedule.
Pacific (6-16, 0-7) has beaten Gonzaga just once ever and was coming off a 76-28 loss at Saint Mary’s two days earlier. But the Tigers were ready for this one, leading, 35-34, at halftime and up, 54-53, after a layup by Nick Blake with 8:16 left. The margin remained just five points inside the final five minutes.
Gonzaga survived, getting 20 points from Graham Ike, 12 points and 11 rebounds from Anton Watson and 19 points from Nolan Hickman. The Zags made five 3-pointers in the final eight minutes and enough free throws late to escape with the victory.
Donovan Williams scored 14 points for the Tigers, Cam Denson and Moe Odum each had 12 and the bench provided a boost with 19 points.
LAST WEEK’S BIG THING: PJ Hayes, a senior transfer from Black Hills State University in Spearfish, S.D., set a San Diego program record by nailing nine 3-pointers (in 14 attempts) in a career-high 33-point performance as the Toreros rallied from a 14-point deficit to win, 85-81, at Portland. Hayes matched Santa Clara’s Carlos Marshall Jr., for the most 3-pointers in a game this season by a WCC player.
THIS WEEK’S BIG THING: No two teams in the WCC know each other as well as Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga, who collide for the first time this season on Saturday in Spokane. The teams have met three times a season in 13 of the past 15 years — a total of 43 games over that span. The Gaels have beaten the Zags each of the past two seasons in Moraga but have not prevailed at Spokane since Jan. 18, 2018. Since then, Gonzaga is 90-2 at the McCarthey Center. Tipoff Saturday is 7:30 p.m. on ESPN.
GONZAGA WOMEN FLEXING THEIR MUSCLES: While the WCC men’s race remains up for grabs, Gonzaga’s 17th-ranked women seem determined to distance themselves from the rest of the Conference. The Zags (20-2, 7-0) beat Santa Clara, 82-45, and San Francisco, 73-54, this week and seemingly are getting it done without breaking a sweat.
The Zags have reached 20 victories for the ninth time in 10 seasons under coach Lisa Fortier and are one of just two women’s teams (along with Kansas State) in the country to have reached that plateau already this season.
“I need to be the kind of person who appreciates 20 wins because (we’re not always) going to be knocking the door on 30,” Fortier told the Spokesman Review. “At Gonzaga, we’ve been conditioned to where 20 is just a stepping stone along the way. So we’re trying to enjoy that and also know we have a lot more to do.
“If you get to 20 this time of the year, it means you did a good job in the nonconference and you’ve started conference well. So that’s what we’re happy and proud of.”
And Gonzaga has compiled its 7-0 conference record without an outcome closer than 18 points. Not impressed? Seven conference wins in a row by at least 18 points is a streak none of Fortier’s previous nine high-achieving teams ever pulled off.
EJIM AMONG McCLAIN AWARD CANDIDATES: Gonzaga senior Yvonne Ejim was named one of 10 candidates for the 2024 Katrina McClain Award, given to the nation’s top power forward. The award is presented by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, and named after the two-time All-American and 1987 national player of the year from Georgia.
Ejim, a 6-foot-1 native of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, has scored 20 points or more 13 times already this season and averages a WCC-leading 20.5 points. She also grabs 8.2 rebounds per game and is converting 65 percent of her shots, also best in the Conference.
BRONCOS SURVIVE EARLY TKO TRY: Santa Clara’s men watched visiting Pepperdine score the game’s first 15 points on Thursday, somehow brushed it off and went on to a 94-71 triumph.
“We got punched right in the mouth to start the game. Before you could sit down it was 15-nothing,” Broncos’ head coach Herb Sendek said. “I thought our guys really kept their poise and composure — there’s no such thing as a 15-point play. We eventually fought our way back.”
Adama-Alpha Bal scored 23 points on 9-for-11 shooting — his seventh 20-point game — and Carlos Marshall Jr. added 19 points. Santa Clara (15-7, 6-1), which remains tied for second place with Gonzaga, had Saturday off and returns to action Wednesday at Saint Mary’s.
McKINNEY WINS IT FOR USD: Junior guard Wayne McKinney III got doused with water by happy teammates after San Diego’s 69-67 victory at Pepperdine on Saturday night. He deserved the victory bath after hitting a fade-away jumper over the outstretched arm of Waves defender Jevon Porter with 2 seconds left to secure the win.
McKinney had 25 points, five rebounds and three assists, and junior center Steven Jameson had the best game of his USD career with 20 points on 10-for-11 accuracy and 12 rebounds as the Toreros (12-10, 2-5) won their second road game in five days.