MALIBU, Calif. — Saint Mary's extended their win streak to 16 games and sewed up their first West Coast Conference regular season title since 2012, as the 17th-ranked Gaels defeated the Pepperdine Wave 83-57 on Thursday night.
The Gales (24-6, 15-0) were led by Augustas Marciulionis with 17 points and tied his career-high assist total with 11. Luke Barrett chipped in with 14 points.
Saint Mary's will finish up regular season play on Saturday with a home game against the 23rd-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs.
“It’s hard to do. They’ve come a long way from the start of the season to now,” Saint Mary’s coach Randy Bennett said about winning the WCC outright. “That was the goal going into this and they got it done. Hard to do with Gonzaga in the league. I think it’s happened two times in the last 22 years, that’s how hard it is.”
Pepperdine (12-19, 5-11) kept things close for the first 11 minutes, staying within two possession of the Gaels.
Saint Mary's began to flex its muscle at the 8:38 mark of the half when Mason Forbes' layup sparked a 25-8 run to close out the half and give the Gaels a 51-28 lead.
The Gaels dominated in the paint during the first half, scoring 28 points from close range.
Jevon Porter led all scorers for Pepperdine with 22 points.
Pepperdine's starting guard Houston Mallette suffered an injury midway through the second half and didn’t return to the game.
Gonzaga 86, San Francisco 68
SAN FRANCISCO — Graham Ike tallied 26 points to lead the 23rd-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs to an 86-68 win over the San Francisco Dons on Thursday night.
Gonzaga (23-6, 13-2) got additional help from Nolan Hickman with 22 points and Ryan Nembhard added 15 in the win.
The Bulldogs' 29th-straight win over the Dons ensured they would get a bye to the semifinals of the West Coast Conference Tournament.
Gonzaga may not be able to win a share of the regular season title on Saturday when they face champion Saint Mary's, but a win could help solidify an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
“It’s big for us to get that double bye,” Ike said. “But we still got to take care of business on Saturday. That’s what we’re looking forward to. Glad we got it done tonight. Enjoy it for a couple hours and then get on to tomorrow and get ready for Saint Mary’s.”
The Dons moved game from their campus arena to the Chase Center, where the NBA's Golden State Warriors play, hoping to draw a bigger crowd rather than hold home-court advantage
The change in scenery appeared to work out for the Dons, who started strong on the big stage and led almost the entire first half.
Gonzaga managed to take a slim 35-34 lead right before halftime when Anton Watson scored with four seconds left in the half.
But all the momentum the Dons had evaporated to begin the second half, as they missed 15 of their first 16 shots.
Malik Thomas scored 23 points and Jonathan Mogbo added 14 in the losing effort for San Francisco.
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