Watch that man: Augustas Marciulionis led the Gaels with 27 points for the victory over Chattanooga. Thursday he was also named to the Wooden Award watchlist. / Photo by Tod Fierner for Saint Mary's Athletics
Gaels Down Mocs in Men’s Hoops Offensive Duel, for 86–74 Victory
Lithuanian duo of Augustas Marciulionis and Paulius Murauskas rack up 50 points together. Freshman Mikey Lewis scores 14 points in just 18 minutes of play. And Marciulionis is now on the watchlist for the prestigious Wooden Award.
The Saint Mary's Gaels (2–0) had another strong opponent come to town, as the Chattanooga Mocs (0–2) brought their brand of run and gun basketball to Moraga, and fought hard against Coach Randy Bennett's physical defensive squad. Both teams put up their best offensive showings, but when the dust all settled, it was the Gaels who were able to defend their home court, downing the Mocs 86–74.
Augustas Marciulionis finished as the Gaels’ lead scorer, dropping 27, one shy of his career-best, to go along with a team-high seven assists and just two turnovers. Fellow Lithuanian Paulius Murauskas also surpassed the 20-point threshold, with a career-high 23 points and 11 rebounds, for his second consecutive double-double. Freshman Mikey Lewis bested his career-high, with 14 points off the bench in 19 minutes of play.
The second half saw Marciulionis put together one of the best halves of basketball in his already illustrious career, scoring 19 points on 7–9 shooting, and dishing out four assists. It was a big day for him on the national stage as well: The Los Angeles Athletic Club announced the watchlist for the John R. Wooden Award; Marciulionis has been named one of 50 student-athletes who are the early front-runners for the most prestigious honors in college basketball.
A Tight First Frame
Chattanooga kept things extremely tight throughout the majority of the first half. Halfway through the first frame, the Mocs led by one; with 4:30 remaining, the Gaels led by four, their largest of the game at that point. Back-to-back triples from Augustas Marciulionis and Mikey Lewis quickly put the Gaels up by double digits, followed by four straight Harry Wessels free throws to push the lead out to 14 with 150 ticks remaining in the opening stanza.
Chattanooga found some of its groove again to the tune of a 6–0 run, but a pair of Paulius Murauskas free throws on the Gaels’ final offensive possession of the half pushed the lead back to 39–29. Murauskas played all but the final possession of the half, going for an astonishing 11 points and 9 rebounds, setting himself up for his second consecutive double-double. Augustas Marciulionis was the only player to play the entire first half without leaving the court, and went for 8 points and 3 assists. The Gaels got to the charity stripe 18 times in the first half, converting on 15. Saint Mary’s only turned the ball over three times, while not allowing the Mocs to score off any of those turnovers.
An Epic Half for Marciulionis
The second frame started all Mocs, who went on an impressive 12–0 run to flip a 10-point halftime deficit to a two-point lead. The teams battled back and forth and were tied at 52 at the 11-minute mark. Augustas Marciulionis put the Gaels back in front with a mid-range jump shot, followed by a steal and layup through contact by Mikey Lewis, who connected on one of three free throws as well following a technical foul assessed to Chattanooga. The Gaels held the Mocs without a field goal for the next four minutes and change, extending their lead back to double digits, due in big part to eight points from Lewis.
Marciulionis went on to play a standout half and finished as the Gaels’ lead scorer, dropping 27, one shy of his career-best, to go along with a team-high seven assists and just two turnovers. Together with 23 points by Paulius Murauskas, the two Lithuanians racked up 50 points. Along with 14 points from Mikey Lewis, Luke Barrett chipped in 11 on 4–6 shooting. Saint Mary's shot a stellar 68% from the field in the second half, including a 44% clip from beyond the arc.
Meet Mikey Lewis
Freshman guard Mikey Lewis brought a lot of excitement to Moraga when signing on National Signing Day last year. Many wondered, however, what kind of impact the youngster would have on a team that returned eight players from a year ago. Lewis has quickly answered that question by proving to be the perfect injection of high-energy offense and defense off the bench as the Gaels’ sixth man just two games into his collegiate career.
After scoring 10 points off the bench in 12 minutes of play in his debut against Towson on Monday night, Lewis took it up a notch by scoring 14 points in 19 minutes of play vs Chattanooga. Lewis also had arguably the biggest momentum-swinging play in the game, when he picked up his first collegiate steal, then took the ball coast to coast, finishing a layup through contact, then draining a free throw to push the Gaels ahead 57–52 with 10 minutes and change to go. From that point, the Gaels outscored the Mocs 29–22, closing out the victory.
Senior center Mitchell Saxen found himself in foul trouble for the second consecutive game, picking up three fouls in the first eight minutes of action. In turn, the Gaels turned to their number two big man off the bench, 7’1” Harry Wessels. Wessels answered the bell with a career-high 23 minutes, putting up seven points, six boards, and a career-high three assists to just one turnover. The Boddington, West Australia native did a majority of his damage from the stripe, where he connected on 5 out of 6 free throw attempts.
UP NEXT: The Gaels take the weekend off before hosting defending MAC Champion Akron on Tuesday, November 12 at 7 p.m. at the UCU Pavilion.
