Career high: Augustas Marciulionis on his way to scoring 28 points against the Waves. / Photo by Tod Fierner for Saint Mary's Athletics
The Gaels Reach Triple Digits in a 103–59 Victory Over Pepperdine
Alex Ducas dazzles the crowd with a half-court three pointer at the half-time buzzer. Augustus Marciulionis scores a career high 28 points. And the Gaels retire the jersey of SMC legend and NBA player Jock Landale.
The Saint Mary’s Gaels (21-6, 12-0 WCC) can officially claim a victory against every West Coast Conference foe this season after defeating Pepperdine (10-17, 3-9 WCC) on Thursday night, 103–59. The Waves hung tough with the Gaels for as long as they could, but the Gaels ground them down by putting together long stretches of defensive stops followed by open looks that allowed them to pull away midway through the first half. And even as they built a hefty lead, the Gaels kept the pedal to the metal the entire game, getting every single active player on the scorer's sheet en route to the 44 point victory.
As the San Francisco Chronicle noted, the win backs up Saint Mary’s national ranking: Earlier this week, the Gaels were ranked No. 18 by the Associated Press and No. 19 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
The blowout victory began with a less than stellar start for the Gaels offense. They made just four of their first 13 shots, and held a narrow three point lead at the under 12 minute media timeout. Saint Mary's managed to shake out of their early slump however, to can 13 of their next 22 field goal attempts. An Alex Ducas half court heave went down as time expired in the first half, giving the Gaels a 16 point lead into the halftime break, 43–27. Ducas and Augustas Marciulionis both scored 14 in the first half and combined to shoot 6–7 from beyond the arc. Aidan Mahaney scored five points and had a team-high five rebounds, while Mitchell Saxen had four points and a team leading four assists in the first frame. As a team, Saint Mary's shot 64% from three.
Nonstop Momentum in the Second Half
The Gaels seized momentum in the second frame from the get go, scoring 60 second half points on 76% shooting. Augustas Marciulionis matched his 14 first half points in the second frame, while Harry Wessels chipped in nine second half points. Jordan Ross was the Gaels leader in rebound and assists in the second half, racking up four of each. The Gaels scored 40 of their 60 second half points in the paint, and limited Pepperdine to just four total rebounds in the second half in a showing of pure power on the interior.
When the final buzzer sounded, Augustus Marciulionis had racked up a career high 28 points on 11–16 shooting from the field. He added five rebounds and a team-high six assists for good measure. Alex Ducas scored 18 on 7–9 shooting, continuing his recent hot streak. Aidan Mahaney scored 13 with seven rebounds, Mitchell Saxen added a dozen points and five assists, and Mason Forbes didn't miss, going 5–5 from the field and 1–1 from the free throw line en route to an 11 point game. The Gaels shot their season best mark from the field (61.8%) and from three (63.2%) on the evening.
The Goose Can Do It All
Augustas Marciulionis may have been the Gaels high scorer, setting a new career mark of 28 points, but scoring certainly wasn't his only contribution in this one. The junior point guard also reeled in five rebounds, his best mark in nearly a month, and dished out six assists without a single turnover. Over his last six contests, Marciulionis has been averaging nearly 17 points per contest, three rebounds per game, and six assists per game, boasting a stellar 7.2 assist to turnover ratio over that stretch.
Getting Everybody Involved
For the first time this season, every single Gael who touched the court scored. Five players scored in double figures, while six converted more than one field goal. Even more impressive, the Gaels were able to not only get every player who touched the floor a bucket, but they did so while playing every single active player on their roster.
As for those triple digits: Thursday night’s 103 points were the second most scored by the Gaels in a non overtime WCC game dating back to 1996. The game topping that tally also came against Pepperdine—104 points in 2004.
Retiring Jersey No. 34: Jock Landale the Big Man
Prior to the game Thursday night, Saint Mary’s honored Gael great Jock Landale with a ceremony retiring his jersey, No. 34. Landale was on hand for the occasion and told the crowd that behind every good big man is a good point guard. “I was lucky enough to have two of those!” he said.
A four year Gael, Landale played for Coach Randy Bennett's squad 2014–18. In that span, he helped lead the Gaels to 109 victories, an NCAA tournament berth, the program’s only 30 win season, and the program’s longest winning streak at 19 games in a row. His senior season in which he earned honors as WCC Player of the Year.
The two-time All-American followed up his Saint Mary's career by winning championships in the Serbian, Lithuanian, and Australian top leagues before signing with the San Antonio Spurs. Landale is now in his third NBA season, having played for the Spurs, Phoenix Suns and, currently, the Houston Rockets. In 2021, Landale helped lead the Australian Olympic team to a bronze medal at the Summer Olympics.
Landale was enshrined into the Saint Mary's Athletics Hall of Fame earlier this year. His number now hangs amongst some of the greatest men's basketball players to ever play in Moraga: Patty Mills' No. 13, Matthew Dellavedova's No. 4, and Tom Meschery's No. 31.
Landale's message to the Saint Mary’s crowd, just before tip off: “Let’s go get a W!”
Indeed, the Gaels delivered.
Winningest Coach in the Bay Area
As the Mercury News noted earlier this week, with 528 career victories leading Saint Mary’s, Coach Randy Bennett now can claim the most career wins for any coach in the San Francisco Bay Area. (Stanford and Cal clock in at 522 each.)
Sportswriter Jeff Faraudo also writes, “Among coaches at the 25 Division I programs in the state of California, Bennett sits at No. 2 all-time. Topping the list: UCLA coaching icon John Wooden, with 620. And he’s not out of reach.”
UP NEXT: The Gaels have a few days to rest up before welcoming the San Francisco Dons to town on Tuesday, February 20. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. inside UCU Pavilion.
READ MORE: This story as it originally appears at SMCGaels.com
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