Saint Mary’s tops No. 9 Gonzaga, earns share off WCC regular-season title
Mikey Lewis established career highs of 31 points and seven 3-pointers and Saint Mary's clinched a share of the West Coast Conference regular-season title with a 70-59 victory over No. 9 Gonzaga on Saturday night at Moraga, Calif.
Joshua Dent added 14 points and made four 3-pointers for the Gaels (27-4, 16-2 WCC), who have won or shared the title in each of the past four seasons. Saint Mary's shared the regular-season crown with Gonzaga in 2023 and won the league outright each of the past two seasons.
Mantas Juzenas had 12 points on four treys as the Gaels defeated the Bulldogs for the seventh time in the past 13 meetings. Saint Mary's outscored the Zags 41-23 in the second half en route to its eighth consecutive victory.
Graham Ike scored 17 points before fouling out with 3:44 remaining for the Bulldogs (28-3, 16-2), who previously clinched a share of the crown and will be the No. 1 seed in the upcoming WCC postseason tournament. Saint Mary's will be the No. 2 seed.
Adam Miller scored 14 points and Tyon Grant-Foster added 13 points and three blocked shots for Gonzaga, which had a six-game winning streak halted.
This was the final regular-season meeting between two programs that first played in 1955. Gonzaga is moving into the rebuilt Pac-12 next season.
Saint Mary's shot 34.8% from the field, but was a solid 16 of 33 from 3-point range.
The Bulldogs made 39.3% of their attempts and were 5 of 17 from behind the arc. Gonzaga shot just 29.6% in the second half.
The score was tied at 44 before Saint Mary's ripped off 10 consecutive points.
Lewis drained a 3-pointer and Paulius Murauskas added a layup for a five-point lead. Lewis made two free throws before Murauskas buried a trey to give the Gaels a 54-44 lead with 8:51 remaining.
Two baskets by Ike pulled Gonzaga within 56-50 with 6:04 remaining.
Saint Mary's responded with 11 straight points on Andrew McKeever's tip-in, Dent's 3-pointer and Lewis' two treys to make it 67-50 with 4:09 remaining.
Lewis later drained his seventh trey to make it 70-56 with 1:29 remaining as Saint Mary's closed it out.
The Gaels trailed by seven at halftime but scored the first eight points of the second half and 15 of 17. Dent made two treys to cap the 8-0 burst to give Saint Mary's a 37-36 edge.
Lewis scored the next seven Gaels' points to make it 44-38 with 14:25 remaining.
Grant-Foster's authoritative dunk allowed Gonzaga to knot the score at 44 with 11:09 to play.
Ike scored 13 first-half points as Gonzaga led 36-29 at the break.