San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Gaels use 25-0 run early to dominate
Midway through the first half at McKeon Pavilion on Saturday, St. Mary’s led San Jose State 19-17.
And that’s your Spartans replay.
The rest of the half belonged to the Gaels. As in a 25-0 run over the final 10:45. As in, St. Mary’s led 44-17 at the break.
The second half was merely academic as St. Mary’s coasted to a 75-45 victory.
After the game, the Gaels’ Jordan Ford and Tanner Krebs said they hadn’t been aware of the 25 straight points — nor could they remember ever being a part of such a run.
“I don’t think many guys have,” Ford said. “That’s amazing.”
Said Krebs: “That all started on defense. Our defensive intensity picked up a lot and from that, we were able to get a good offensive flow going.”
The Spartans couldn’t get much flowing. They committed turnovers on their first four possessions and fell behind 9-0.
San Jose State did score the next nine points to tie the game. And when Noah Baumann hit a three-pointer with 10:46 left in the half, the Spartans trailed 19-17. St. Mary’s proceeded to score the next 25 points.
Krebs began the stretch by connecting twice from beyond the arc. A steal by Jordan Hunter led to a dunk by Elijah Thomas — and so it went.
The Spartans (3-9) committed 13 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes and St. Mary’s scored 22 points off those mistakes.
San Jose State head coach Jean Prioleau stressed to his players about cutting down on live-ball turnovers, but he realizes there is a fine line to that.
“You don’t want players out there tippy-toeing, not trying to make mistakes — because that’s usually when you do make mistakes,” Prioleau said.
Krebs led St. Mary’s (9-6) with 20 points. He hit his first four three-point attempts and finished 6-for-9 from beyond the arc. Ford contributed 16 points and five assists.
In the previous three seasons, the Gaels went 29-6, 29-5 and 30-6. So, six losses in less than two months is not something with which they’re familiar.
“The season hasn’t gone as planned,” Krebs said, “but we can’t focus on those six losses right now. It’s always about what game is next and taking care of that one.”
Said Ford: “We started 3-4, and we’ve gotten a lot better since then. Just keep improving and by the end of league, we should be where we want to be.”
The Gaels will be on the Hilltop on Thursday night as they’ll open WCC play against USF.
Briefly: In a pregame ceremony, St. Mary’s honored head coach Randy Bennett for his 400th career win, which he earned in an 85-56 rout of Bucknell on Dec. 19. … St. Mary’s has won all eight matchups with the Spartans since Bennett became the Gaels’ head coach before the 2001-02 season.