Goose leads the way: Augustas Marciulionis scored 16 points in the first half, then pivoted to playmaker in the second half, contributing eight assists. / Photo by Gary Breedlove
Gaels Bounce Back with Defensive Domination at Oregon State
Saint Mary’s thrashes the Beavers 63–49 on their home court—where OSU hadn’t lost a game since November. Augustas Marciulionis leads scoring with 18, while the Gaels serve up a seven blocks and Harry Wessels delivers a pair of dunks.
Saturday night belonged to Saint Mary’s in Corvallis. Coming off of their first loss of the calendar year—and facing a team that had a 14–1 record at home—the Gaels (21–4, 11–1 West CC) wasted no time returning to their winning ways, with a 63–49 thrashing of Oregon State (17–8, 7–5 WCC). The Gaels held the Beavers to their lowest scoring total of the season, and they handed them their first loss since November.
Augustas Marciulionis stuffed the stat sheet for the Gaels with 18 points, six rebounds, ten assists, and four steals. In the first half, it was all about the scoring ability of Marciulionis—he racked up 16—while in second, he was limited to two, but dropped eight dimes en route to his second double-double of the season. Mitchell Saxen added 15 points on an efficient 6–8 from the field, and brought down a team high seven rebounds. Harry Wessels rounded out the group of double-digit scorers with 12.
Defense and Dunks
Oregon State came out of the gates hot, connecting on each of their first two field goal attempts to take an early 4–0 lead before the Gaels put the clamps on defensively, limiting the Beavers to just 5–26 shooting from the field for the remainder of the half. The Gaels were able to take their first lead at 5–4 on a couple of Augustas Marciulionis buckets, eventually closing out the half on a 30–13 run.
Marciulionis rode his scoring wave to 16 first half points on 6–7 shooting from the field, while dishing out two assists and a steal. Mitchell Saxen added six points on 3–4 shooting, with three rebounds and a block. Eighteen of the Gaels’ 30 were scored in the paint, as they used their size to physically dominate the interior on both sides of the basketball.
The Gaels were quick to extend their 30–19 halftime lead to 15 with four quick points from Saxen, and they never let the Beavers get closer than that halftime deficit of 11. Saint Mary's led by as many as 21, eventually earning the 14 point victory 63–49. The Gaels chipped in 18 more points from the paint, and they turned five OSU turnovers into 10 more points.
Mikey Lewis and Mitchell Saxen each scored nine in the second half of action, Lewis going 3–4 from three and Saxen going 3–4 from the field. Harry Wessels added eight, including a pair of highlight reel dunks. Augustas Marciulionis changed roles from scorer to playmaker with eight second half assists, feeding the Saint Mary’s big men and finding his fellow guard on the perimeter. When the buzzer sounded, he had his first double-double in conference play and his second of the season. He also added six rebounds and four assists, coming four rebounds shy of the Gaels’ first triple-double in program history.
Block Party in Corvallis
Saint Mary's tied a season-high with seven blocks, each of which were emphatic and decisive, demoralizing the Beavs in the paint, and holding them to a season-low 49 points. Harry Wessels, Mitchell Saxen, and Luke Barrett all had two massive swats, while Paulius Murauskas had one rejection in the first half. The last time the Gaels had more than seven blocks in a game came in their season opener last year against Stanislaus State.
Saint Mary’s is ranked No. 23 in the country according to the USA Today Coaches Poll. And coming off Saturday night’s game, the Gaels are ranked No. 21 in the country in the NCAA’s NET rankings. Along with winning percentage, the NET rankings take into account game results, strength of schedule, game location, scoring margin, net offensive and defensive efficiency, and the quality of wins and losses. For the NCAA, it's both a results-driven and predictive metric.
UP NEXT: The Gaels return home to host Santa Clara on Tuesday, February 11. Tip off is at 8 p.m. in the UCU Pavilion. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN2.
