San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
St. Mary’s 84, Cal 71:
Malik Fitts scores 19 points and St. Mary’s ends a four-game losing streak.
St. Mary’s carried the weight of its first fourgame losing streak since February 2007 into its matchup with Cal at McKeon Pavilion on Saturday night.
The Gaels emphatically avoided losing five in a row for the first time since the 2001-02 season, Randy Bennett’s first in Moraga.
St. Mary’s dismantled the Bears 84-71.
“You can get beat down by losing,” Bennett said. “We’ve haven’t had to deal with this for a while, but that’s how it goes sometimes. I’m most pleased that our guys kept believing and kept playing.”
Said junior guard Jordan Ford, who had 16 points and a game-high seven assists: “Even though it’s been a tough stretch, we just stuck together. That’s what makes a nice, tight team.”
The Gaels went 30for-50 (60 percent) from the floor, including 13for-25 on three-point tries. St. Mary’s (4-4) owned a 30-24 rebounding edge and had 19 assists to Cal’s six.
That last number did not sit well with Cal head coach Wyking Jones.
“That’s a problem and we have to fix that. We will fix that,” Jones said. “Right now, it’s too many guys going one on one, too many guys trying to take people off the bounce and do it themselves and play hero ball.
“We shoot the ball too well to not drive and kick out to shooters.”
St. Mary’s sophomore forward Malik Fitts scored 19 points. Freshman forward Dan Fotu knocked down all four of his three-point attempts en route to 16 points. Sophomore guard Tommy Kuhse made his first career start and though his numbers (five points, six assists) weren’t eye-popping, his presence on the floor clearly helped take some of the load off Ford. Sophomore forward Justice Sueing led Cal (2-4) with 16 points.
St. Mary’s led by three midway through the first half and then went on a 10-0 run.
Fitts converted a follow before Fotu nailed two foul shots. Krebs buried a three and then Fotu did likewise off a nice feed from Matthias Tass. Just like that the Gaels were up 31-18 with about eight minutes to go before the intermission.
St. Mary’s was up 45-30 at halftime and put away the game in the first five minutes of the second half. The signature sequence: Paris Austin drove for a layup attempt that was rejected by Jordan Hunter. The ball went to Ford, who led a fast break that was capped by his alley-oop pass to Hunter. The senior center threw down a dunk, got fouled and completed the three-point play.
That made it 57-32, St. Mary’s, with 15:38 remaining.
Playing the Bears remains special for the Gaels.
“This is one of those games at the beginning of the year you have circled,” said swingman Tanner Krebs, who had 11 points. It’s like, ‘Yeah, It’s Cal. It’s a big game.’ To be able to come out and play the way we did and to beat them the way we did was a really good feeling.”
Briefly: Cal hadn’t played at McKeon since 1988. Last year, St. Mary’s beat the Bears 74-63 in Berkeley. … Cal, which beat Santa Clara 78-66 on Monday, completes its three-game swing against the Bay Area’s WCC teams by hosting USF on Wednesday night.
Steve Kroner is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: skroner@ sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SteveKronerSF