St. Mary’s men get back to winning; Stanford women win
Tommy Kuhse had a careerhigh 20 points and eight assists and No. 18 St. Mary’s bounced back three days after losing its home opener and beat Long Beach State 8163 on Thursday night in Moraga.
Matthias Tass added 22 points and five rebounds for the Gaels, who never trailed in the first matchup between the teams since 2010.
“We just played as a team,” Tass said. “We moved the ball around. We had like five or six assists in the previous game so we just tried to share the ball. We know that we have a lot of weapons out there. Especially when they played zone against us, we can move the ball and everyone shot the ball well tonight. I got my layups, Tommy got his 3s.”
Colin Slater had 14 points for Long Beach State (13). The 49ers have lost 25 consecutive games against ranked teams, dating to 2011.
St. Mary’s (21) shook off a sluggish start and led by 22 after Kuhse’s third 3pointer of the second half. Kuhse, who had not scored in the Gaels’ first two games, was 4 of 4 from beyond the arc.
The blowout comes after coach Randy Bennett’s team saw its first two games decided by two points, including a 6159 loss to Winthrop on Monday.
St. Mary’s next hosts CalPoly on Sunday. The Gaels have won six of the past seven games between the two schools.
#19 Arizona 87, San Jose
State 39: Zeke Nnaji scored 26 points, made all eight of his shots and grabbed 11 rebounds as the host Wildcats (30) dominated a third straight opponent to open the season, shutting down the Spartans (12) defensively from the opening tip.
The Wildcats held San Jose State to 23% shooting, including 2for18 from 3point range, and used a big run to build a 21point halftime lead.
San Jose State opened the season by ending a 21game road losing streak with a 7971 win at Hofstra. The Spartans followed that up with a 15point loss to Portland in their home opener.
San Jose State got off to an awful start at McKale Center, turning it over four times and missing three shots in the first 2½ minutes. The Spartans only got marginally better the rest of the half, shooting 7 of 33, including 1for7 from the 3point arc.
WOMEN
#3 Stanford 90, N. Colorado
36: Head coach Tara VanDerveer challenged her team to play better defense. Statistically, the Cardinal matched her challenge and raised it.
Lacie Hull scored 19 points as the host Cardinal (30) coasted over the Bears (03).
“I was relaxed and ready to play,” Hull said. “Really I didn’t know how I was doing until afterward.”
DiJonai Carrington and Haley Jones each added 11 points for Stanford, which has scored at least 90 points in each of their first three games and have held opponents to an average of 44.7.
“Lacie is a big part of our defense,” VanDerveer said. “It was fun to see her get going. She had a great game. The team came out and worked hard.”
Stanford dominated most every category, though VanDerveer was quick to point out a need for more offensive rebounds, even though the Cardinal had an 182 advantage in secondchance points.
Fran Belibi added eight points and 13 rebounds, including a teamhigh three on the offensive boards.
“Fran had a solid game,” VanDerveer said. “The freshmen are getting a lot of help from the upper classmen.”
The Cardinal scored 90 or more points in three straight games for the first time in nearly 18 years, last recording the feat in January of 2002.