Gaels Come From Behind to Win Stunner at USF
SAN FRANCISCO — One of the most highly-anticipated matchups of the West Coast Conference season finally got a chance to occur on Thursday night, as the Saint Mary's men's basketball team traveled to San Francisco to take on the upstart Dons. In their first matchup in over a year, San Francisco raced out to an early lead and held on for nearly the duration of the game, but Saint Mary's erased a 23-point deficit to eventually win a stunner, 72-70. Saint Mary's improves to 16-4 (4-1) on the season while the Dons drop to 16-5 (3-3).
THE EARLY RETURNS
San Francisco came out to play early on and hit cruise control in the first half. After Matthias Tass got the first points of the game for Saint Mary's the Dons went on a 21-4 run and midway through the opening half, they led 28-8. While the Saint Mary's offense struggled to hit shots, the Dons were also getting a ton of contributions from their stars like Jamaree Bouyea and Yauhen Massalski, who combined for 26 points and 11 rebounds. The Gaels were down by as many as 23 points in the first half.
SECOND SURGE
Few teams in recent Saint Mary's history have been able to make adjustments at halftime like the 2021-22 Gaels. After entering the half down by 17, Saint Mary's came out with a flurry of offense similar to that of San Francisco's in the first half. Powered by Matthias Tass and a heavy dosage of work in the paint, the Gaels began the half with an 18-7 run that closed the gap down to 48-42. Kyle Bowen hit a big corner-three for Saint Mary's, which cut the deficit down to single-digits for the first time since very early. Thursday marked the fifth time this season the Gaels have outscored an opponent by at least 15 in the second half (19).
THE FINAL MINUTES
Down by eight with 4:42 remaining, the Gaels erased the deficit in just two minutes, with Bowen hitting his second three of the game to make it 60-59, and the Alex Ducas giving the Gaels a lead with a layup. A quick answer from USF put them back up 63-61, but that's when Tass kept fighting down low, getting a game-tying layup and then an and-one to go up 66-63 with 90 seconds remaining. The teams traded free throws in the final possessions, with Tommy Kuhse hitting a pair of huge free throws with seven seconds left to ice the game at 72-68 on a one-and-one situation.
AMONG OTHER NUMBERS
The 41 points allowed by the Gaels in the first half were the most a team has scored on SMC in any half this season…the Gaels went on a 29-11 run after trailing by 23 points in the first half…Mitchell Saxen provided some much-needed offense in the paint in the first half, scoring eight points in eight minutes…free throws told the story of the game, as the Gaels shot 13-14 from the line while the Dons were 8-14…SMC was 10-10 from the charity stripe in the second half…with the second-half eruption, Tass finished tying a career-best with 27 points and added 12 rebounds for his fourth double-double in five games…the Gaels offense shot at a 58.1% clip…the nine three-pointers attempted by SMC were the fewest they've taken in a game this season.
UP NEXT
Saint Mary's returns home on Saturday evening for their second game of the season against Pepperdine. Saturday's game will tip-off at 5:00 pm on CBS Sports Network as the Gaels and Waves meet for the second time this season. In their first matchup, SMC scored its first West Coast Conference win of the year by taken down the Waves 77-62 on January 13. It marked the best road performance of the season for Saint Mary's, a game that saw Logan Johnson go off for his second 20-point performance in a three-game span.