Saint Mary’s Gaels Outrace Murray State Racers For 6th Straight Win At Home
By Mike Rose
Tonight at home, at the McKeon Pavillion in Moraga the Saint Mary’s Gaels kept their perfect record and remain undefeated at 6-0. Murray State falls to 2-5 after an 89-64 thrashing at the hands of the Gaels.
The teams have met three times prior. After tonight, the Gaels lead the series; 3-1.
The Gaels came out strong tonight. The initial basket of the game was scored by Cameron Payne of the Racers from behind the arc with 19:40 in the half. This gave the Racers their only lead of the night 3-0. Stephen Holt answered off a quick 2-pointer and was fouled. He hit the free throw and the game was tied 3-3. The Gaels went on a 10-1 run after the three by Holt and led 13-4 with 16:26 in the half. By the end of the first half, the Gaels built their lead to 49-27 and sent the Racers to the locker room needing to re-group.
For the first half the Gaels outplayed the Racers on just about every aspect. Another solid defense performance by Jordan Giusti kept the Racer offense in check. The Gael offense was led by Brad Waldow with 14 points and James Walker put up 13 first half points. As a team, the Gaels went 16-for-30 (53.3 percent) from the floor compared to Murray state who went 10-for-24 (41.6 percent). For Murray State, Jeffery Moss, Jarvis Williams, and Payne all had seven.
The second half did not prove to be any better for the Racers. The Gaels remained solid on both ends of the court. The Gaels have placed a strong emphasis on defense per Coach Bennett and this team is starting to show that they are to be taken seriously. They have held opponents to 40.1 percent shooting average from the floor. Most impressive is that opponents have averaged just 26.1 percent from behind the arc against the Gael defense.
Tonight the Gaels ended 30-for-56 (53.5 percent) from the floor and were 13-for-27 (48.1 percent) from three point land. The Racers finished 22-for-46 (47.7 percent) from the floor and were 4-for-9 (44.4 percent) from threes. Although they fared better statistically than other opponents, tonight they were no match for the Gael offense or defense.
For the Game, Waldow ended the night with 18. Both Holt and Walker had 16. Kerry Carter ended with 10 from off the bench. For Murray State, Williams closed with 16, Moss had 14, Payne had 13 and Fairell had 10.
The Gaels have their seventh straight home game one week from tomorrow, Sunday Dec., at 5:30 p.m. Pacific. They face Eastern Washington.