Return to form for Gaels after lineup changes
What a difference a week makes.
St. Mary’s had six days to iron out the problems that surfaced in back-to-back losses last week, and the practice improvements were quite evident in the Gaels’ 74-63 victory over Cal at Haas Pavilion on Saturday night in the revival of an East Bay rivalry being deemed the “Caldecott Classic.”
St. Mary’s (6-2) didn’t defend up to expectations and struggled to find consistent scorers outside of Jock Landale and Emmett Naar in Wooden Legacy tournament losses that dropped the program from the top-25 rankings for the first time in 22 weeks.
The Gaels were back to looking every bit like a top-25 squad against Cal (3-5), which leads the all-time series 62-17, but had agreed to play the rising St. Mary’s program only twice in the past 13 years.
St. Mary’s limited Don Coleman, whose 22.7-point scoring average ranked among the nation’s top 20, to eight points on 3-of-16 shooting and forced Cal into almost as many turnovers (12) as assists (15). The Gaels also found some scoring help for Landale and Naar.
The all-league duo still did their things with Landale putting up 13 points and six rebounds and Naar going for 13 points and eight assists. In addition, Calvin Hermanson had 22 points on 4-of-7 threepoint shooting, and Jordan Ford had 17 points and six rebounds.
With Coleman struggling to get calls on his slashes to the rim, the Bears relied on Marcus Lee and got a surprise performance from Nick Hamilton. Lee had a career-high 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting, and Hamilton, who’s averaged 0.8 points per game during his career, had a career-high 16 points on 7-of-7 shooting.
St. Mary’s changed its starting lineup for the first time this season, subbing Tanner Krebs (11 rebounds) for Evan Fitzner and ending his streak of 76 consecutive starts. Fitzner was in the game within two minutes of the opening tip, and that’s about when things started going the way many would have predicted.
The Gaels, who are projected to win the West Coast Conference, rushed out to a 10-1 lead over the Bears, who are projected to finish 11th in the Pac-12. Cal didn’t make its first field goal until Lee made a jumper at the 15:48 to ignite his productive first half.
Lee, who is shining with the room created in the lane by staggering his minutes with center Kingsley Okoroh, scored six of his 14 first-half points in a three-minute stretch that trimmed Cal’s deficit to 15-13. The Bears tied it 22-22 on a layup by Coleman, who also sent Landale to the bench with two fouls at the 8:55 mark.
Instead of falling apart without their leading scorer and rebounder, the Gaels stepped up, especially Hermanson and Ford. The guards combined for 16 points in the half ’s final 7:17, including scoring nine of the team’s points during a halfclosing 11-2 run that made it 44-30.
St. Mary’s scored the first basket of the second half, extending its lead to a game-high 16 points and led by at least nine points throughout the final frame. Cal trimmed its deficit to 10 points three times in the final eight minutes, and the first two times, the Gaels immediately went to their old reliables.
Landale’s layup pushed St. Mary’s lead to 65-53 with 6:59 remaining, and after a Lee hook shot, Naar drilled a shotclock-beating three-pointer. Lee completed a three-point play at the 3:53 mark to cut the Gaels’ lead to 68-58, but St. Mary’s made six straight free throws, including two by Naar that extended the lead to 74-58.