St. Mary’s rolls Pepperdine to win regular-season WCC title
Augustas Marciulionis had 17 points and 11 assists, Luke Barrett added 14 points and No. 17 St. Mary’s routed Pepperdine 83-57 in Malibu on Thursday night to clinch the WCC regularseason championship.
The Gaels (24-6, 15-0) extended the nation’s longest active winning streak to 16 games in wrapping up their first outright regularseason championship since 2012. St. Mary’s has one game left — at home against No. 23 Gonzaga on Saturday — to try to run the table in the conference.
“It’s hard to do. They’ve come a long way from the start of the season to now,” St. Mary’s coach Randy Bennett said about winning the WCC title outright. “That was the goal going into this and they got it done. Hard to do with Gonzaga in the league.”
Marciulionis tied his career high with the 11 assists.
“It’s a really good feeling to have that title and not share it with anyone,” he said.
St. Mary’s had a low-key celebration on the court at Firestone Fieldhouse, then celebrated with the conference trophy in the locker room. Bennett described the celebration as mild.
The Gaels had a 22-2 run to build a 49-25 lead late in the first half. When the teams played two weeks earlier in Moraga, St. Mary’s won by 44 points.
“I thought we defended well,” Bennett said about the game-breaking run. “Chris Howell came in and helped us make it tough for them to score. I thought that was the difference. I think Chris was plus-19 in the first half. They didn’t get any easy baskets with him on the floor.”
Jevon Porter led the Waves (12-19, 5-11) with 22 points.
Pepperdine starting guard Houston Mallette was injured midway through the second half and hobbled off the court with assistance. He didn’t return to the game and was on crutches with an ice pack around his right knee.
The Gaels now turn their attention to Gonzaga on Saturday.
“It’s a huge rivalry. It’s probably one of the best rivalries in college basketball,” Marciulionis said. “And we’re playing in front of our own students and our own crowd. But 100% of your effort and energy is expected from you. That’s what we’ll give on Saturday.”
PORTLAND 80 SANTA CLARA 75
Poor shooting and a significant free-throw gap cost the Broncos as the host Pilots snapped a fivegame skid with an overtime victory.
Santa Clara (18-12, 9-6) connected on only 28 of 74 shots (37.8%) and made 6 of 10 free-throw tries. Portland (10-20, 4-11) shot 50.9% and went 15-for-22 at the free-throw line.
Adama Bal scored 22 points for Santa Clara. Tyler Robertson had 32 points for the Pilots. It was his second game with more than 30 this season — the other came Jan. 20 against Santa Clara when he scored 34.
UTAH 90, STANFORD 68
Deivon Smith put up his second triple-double of the season and Cole Bajema knocked down five of the six 3-point shots he attempted to help power the Utes (17-11, 8-9 Pac-12) past the Cardinal in Salt Lake City.
Bajema hit his first 3pointer 19 seconds into the game as Utah forged a 20-8 lead in the first seven minutes. Stanford rallied and cut its deficit to 22-16 on Kanaan Carlyle’s jumper midway through the half, but the Cardinal did not score again until Andrej Stojakovic scored at the basket at the 5:51 mark to cut the Utah lead to 34-18.
Smith finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. His first triple-double came in Utah’s tripleovertime loss to No. 8 Arizona, putting up 14 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. Bajema was 6-for-11 from the field and finished with a team-high 21 points.
Michael Jones paced Stanford (12-16, 7-11) with 20 points.