Pair of career nights ease load on Landale
St. Mary’s head coach Randy Bennett inserted Tanner Krebs into the starting lineup last week to solidify the team’s defense.
On Saturday night, the sophomore showcased the rest of his game, too.
Krebs played his usual pestering defense and added a career-high 23 points as the Gaels trounced feisty opponent Seattle 97-73 in a nonconference game in front of a near-capacity crowd at McKeon Pavilion.
“It was nice to play well. That was the best we’ve played this year, and we did it from start to finish,” Bennett said. “… Our guys were pretty dialed in, and we had a great crowd. That helped our guys. They were excited to play.”
The Gaels (8-2), who trailed for only 26 seconds and led by as many as 29 points, have bounced back from consecutive losses by winning three in a row by an average of 17 points.
The Redhawks (6-5) had won four straight games, including a 19point victory over an Eastern Washington team that beat Stanford last month. Seattle came into the game averaging 81.1 points, which made for a good test for the Gaels’ improving defense.
St. Mary’s held Seattle to 44.4 percent shooting from the floor, doing a solid job of limiting prospects Matei Kavas and Aaron Menzies. Kavas, the reigning WAC Player of the Week, needed 15 shots to score 19 points, and Menzies, a 7-foot-3, 285-pounder coming off a 32-point, 15-rebound performance against Pacific Lutheran, was held to four points and four rebounds.
“I think we’ve gotten a little tougher, mentally and physically,” Krebs said. “We’re scrapping for loose balls, and they’re becoming ours. We’re getting better at knowing opponents’ tendencies, and that’s been a huge factor for us defensively.”
The Gaels are allowing just 63.3 points per game in the past three, and Krebs is a big part of that. He subbed into the starting lineup for Evan Fitzner in St. Mary’s victory over Cal on Saturday, averaged 10 rebounds in his first two starts and played a fantastic twoway game against Seattle.
Krebs, who averaged 4.3 points per game last season, needed only 27 minutes to record his career-best scoring output on a night when the opponent focused on stopping Jock Landale.
The Redhawks dispatched three big bodies as primary defenders on Landale and pounded him in the post and dug into the block with double-teams. The Gaels’ leading scorer managed 20 points and 10 rebounds but needed help.
St. Mary’s got career highs of 19 points and six assists from Jordan Ford. Calvin Hermanson added nine points and Emmett Naar had seven points and 12 assists.
“Jock was Jock, Emmett was Emmett and Calvin was Calvin, but some other guys are starting to step up. That’s why we were good,” Bennett said.
Seattle used a 10-0 run midway through the first quarter to tie it 23-23 on a Jordan Hill three-pointer at the 7:40 mark. But St. Mary’s limited the Redhawks to one field goal in the half ’s closing 5:34 and went into the break with a 49-32 lead.
Krebs had eight of his 17 first-half points in that stretch. His three-pointer from the right corner with 2:15 left extended St. Mary’s lead to 45-28, its largest of the half.
“My previous career high was 14, and I had already beaten it by half. I was like, ‘All right, this is nice,’ ” Krebs said. “But I’m not focused on that. I’m focused on how our team is doing. We were up by 17 at the half, so that was the most important thing.”