Gaels make it 19 in a rowwith rout of LMU
Jordan Fordmatched his career best with 20 points, while Jock Landale added 21 points and nine rebounds to give SaintMary’s its 19th consecutive victory, an 8362 decision over Loyola Marymount on Thursday in Los Angeles.
Calvin Hermanson contributed 10 points, and Emmett Naar handed out 12 assists as the No. 11 Gaels (24-2, 13- 0) earned their 17th successive West Coast Conference victory and their 14th straight on the road. The current winning streak is the longest in the nation. For more on the SaintMary’swin, go tomercurynews.com/sports.
Naar passed former Gael and fellow Australian Matthew Dellavedova for the school record in career assists. Naar now has 769 assists, one more than Dellavedova.
SMC will face rival Gonzaga on Saturday night at McKeon Pavilion. The Gaels handed the Bulldogs their lone conference loss on Jan. 18 in Spokane, Washington.
“We’re definitely a confident team, but we don’t pay any attention to rankings or winning streaks,” Ford said. “We stay right with our team and take it one game at time.”
LMU (7-17, 2-11) took its only lead 32 seconds into the game, when Mattias Markusson converted Eli Scott’s high- arching pass into a slamdunk. The Gaels respondedbymakingfive of their next six shots during a 13-2 blitz to build a ninepoint lead with 4:42 gone in the game.
The Lions, who trailed by as many as 16 points in the first half, drew within 32-24 with 4:20 before halftime. But Landale made a twohanded layup, then grabbed a reboundand starteda fast break that Ford finished by driving the right baseline for another layup to extend SMC’s lead to 36-24 with 3:34 left in the half. UTAH75, STANFORD60 » Reid Travis scored 16 points, and Daejon Davis posted 14 as the Cardinal (13-12, 7-5 Pac12) sawa modest two-game win streak end in Salt Lake City. Justin Bibbins scored 18 points to lead the Utes in the wire-to-wire victory. Utah (14- 9, 6- 6) broke a two-game skid.
The Cardinal entered the night as the second- best shooting team in Pac-12 play (49.3 percent), but the Utes held it to just 35.8 percent for the game.
A 14- 0 second-half run punctuated by a Bibbins triple gave the Utes a 67- 44 lead and put the game away. The Utes were without leading rebounder Donnie Tillman, who sat on the bench in street clothes. UCLA82, ARIZONA74 » Aaron Holiday scored 17 points, Gyorgy Golomon added a career-high 16, and the Bruins scored a road win over the No. 13 Wildcats. UCLA (17-7, 8- 4 Pac-12) shot 52 percent fromthe floor and was 11 of 24 fromthe 3-point arc to win for the third time in their past five games at McKale Center.
Holiday added eight assists, and Thomas Welsh finished with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Arizona (19- 6, 9-3) started slow and had its 12-game home winning streak snapped. Allonzo Trier led Arizona with 17 points, and Deandre Ayton added 16 points and 12 rebounds. GONZAGA 71, PACIFIC 61 » Killian Tillie had 21 points and 10 rebounds andmade a key tip-in with 1:39 remaining, and the No. 12 Bulldogs beat the host Tigers. Johnathan Williams added 10 points and 13 rebounds for his eighth double- double this season as the Bulldogs (22- 4, 12-1 WCC) won their sixth straight. The Tigers (12-14, 7- 6) were within 47- 41 with 13 minutes left but went scoreless over the next four minutes. NORTH CAROLINA 82, DUKE 78 » Joel Berry II scored 21 points, and the No. 21 Tar Heels rallied from 12 down in the first half to beat the No. 9 Blue Devils in Chapel Hill. Kenny Williams made six 3-pointers and matched his career high with 20 points for theTarHeels (187, 7- 5 Atlantic Coast Conference), who roared out of halftime with a 16-2 run that erased what was left of Duke’s early lead. Gary Trent Jr. scored 16 points to lead Duke (19-5, 7- 4), which has lost two straight. BYU 80, SANTA CLARA 58 » Kai Healy led the Broncos (8-17, 5- 8 WCC) with 12 points, and Josip Vrankic and K. J. Feagin had 11 each, but the Cougars rolled at home. Yoeli Childs scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for BYU (19-7, 8-5). Vrankic and Healy combined for the first 14 Santa Clara points of the second half to cut a 41-31 deficit to five. Then Dalton Nixon and Elijah Bryant hit 3-pointers to ignite a 13- 0 run for the Cougars for a 64- 45 lead with 8:44 to play. OREGON 65, WASHINGTON 40 » Troy Brown Jr. scored 21 points, and Kenny Wooten had 12 points and seven blocks to lead the Ducks past the Huskies in Eugene. Payton Pritchard also had 12 points for the Ducks (15- 8, 5- 5 Pac-12), who rebounded from a 35-point road loss at Stanford. Noah Dickerson scored 14 points to lead the Huskies (17- 6, 7- 3), who had their four-game winning streak snapped. It was Washington’s lowest point total of the season. USF 65, PORTLAND 63 » Frankie Ferrari had 13 points on 4- of- 5 shooting, and Nate Renfro scored 12 points to help the Dons (1412, 6-7WCC) hold off the Pilots (10-16, 4-9). Chase Foster added 11 points for USF. ARIZONA STATE 80, USC 78 » Tra Holder banked in a shot with 1.9 seconds left as the Sun Devils (18- 6, 6- 6 Pac-12) scored the game’s final nine points to stun the visiting Trojans (17-8, 8- 4). Holder finished 22 points, and Shannon Evans added 21. Nick Rakocevic led USC with 19 points. OREGONSTATE94, WASHINGTON STATE 62 » Tres Tinkle had 20 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals as the Beavers cruised past the Cou- gars in Corvallis. Drew Eubanks added 18 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks, and AlfredHollins had a career-high 19 points for Oregon State (12-11, 4-7 Pac12). Robert Franks had 17 points and six rebounds, andCarter Skaggs scored 11 for the Cougars (9-14, 1-10).
Women
LOYOLA MARYMOUNT 75, SAINT MARY’S 65 » Megan McKay posted her fourth double- double and a teamhigh 19 points and 11 rebounds, but the host Gaels (15-9, 8- 5 WCC) fell to the Lions (16-8, 8-5). The Gaels whittled down LMU’s 16-point lead to two at 6563 with 3 ½ minutes to play. But that was as close as they would get. Saint Mary’s made just one more basket and turned the ball over three times the rest of the game. BYU 55, SANTA CLARA 34 » Charise Holloway led the Broncos (7-17, 3-10 WCC) with 13 points, but the Broncos fell to the Cougars (14-10, 9- 4). Brenna Chase scored a career-high 25 for BYU.