Saint Mary’s helps Coach Bennett celebrate with win
Senior scores 24 points in No. 22 Gaels victory
Calvin Hermanson made his first nine shots and was perfect on five 3-pointers for No. 22 Saint Mary’s until coming up short on his sixth try from beyond the arc.
“And it was open,” Hermanson said of his lone miss.
On a day when the Gaels senior more than made up for it on both ends of the court, it hardly mattered.
Hermanson scored 24 points and sparked a pair of big runs with his 3-point shooting then helped key an improved defense in the second half as Saint Mary’s pulled away to beat Saint Francis (Pa.) 85-68 on Saturday.
Jock Landale had 13 points and eight rebounds to help Saint Mary’s to its 16th consecutive seasonopening win. UC RIVERSIDE 74, CAL 66 (FRIDAY)
>> Alex Larsson scored a career-high 15 points and had 13 rebounds, Brandon Rosser added 13 points as the Highlanders built an early double-digit lead and beat the Bears on Friday night in the season-opener for both teams.
• Wyking Jones’ inaugural fall recruiting class is among the best in the country, with a trio of standout prepsters signing their National Letters of Intent to join the Bears. Top 100 recruits Jacobi Gordon (Houston, Texas) and Matt Bradley (San Bernadino) and three-star California standout Andre Kelly have signed with the program, Jones announced Saturday.
Three sites rate Cal’s three-man class in the early signing period within the nation’s top 25 classes, with 247Sports and Scout giving the Bears the 18th-best class in the country. ESPN ranks the class 22nd. NOTRE DAME 72, DEPAUL 58 >> T.J. Gibbs scored 21 points to lead the No. 14 Irish to a victory over DePaul in the season opener for both teams.
UCLA LEAVES THREE BEHIND
>> UCLA is heading back to Los Angeles without three players arrested on shoplifting charges in China, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. Freshmen LiAngelo Ball, Jalen Hill and Cody Riley were to remain in Hangzhou, China, while the rest of the team was due back Saturday night.
Women
NOTRE DAME 121, MOUNT ST. MARY’ 65 >> Jessica Shepard had her first double-double at Notre Dame as the No. 6 Irish beat Mount St. Mary’s. CAL STATE FULLERTON 73,
SANTA CLARA 69 >> Emily Wolph scored a game-high 27 points but the Broncos fell to Cal State Fullerton in their opener. Taylor Berry added 14 points for Santa Clara and Morgan McGwire and Kayla Martin each scored 11.