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The Gaels (7–0) feasted on Thanksgiving night—not on turkey but on victory over the Trojans—as Saint Mary's dominated USC (5–2) on both sides of the basketball en route to a 71–36 throttling at the Acrisure Classic in Palm Desert, California. It was SMC’s first win in program history over the former Pac-12 turned Big-10 opponent. The 7–0 start is the seventh in program history, and the first since the 2013–14 campaign.

Jordan Ross finished as the Gaels’ leading scorer, setting a new career high with 15 points. The Pleasant Grove, Utah, native did all of his damage in the painted area, shooting 6–9 from the field, including 5–6 from the field in the second half, all within 10 feet of the hoop. Ross also led the Gaels with four assists and a blocked shot. 

The Gaels’ Lithuanian duo of Augustas Marciulionis and Paulius Murauskas each added 11 points, with Marciulionis also adding four assists and a pair of steals. Mikey Lewis scored eight to go along with a career-best six rebounds and three assists. Mitchell Saxen scored seven to go with seven rebounds. Luke Barrett also chipped in seven boards, six points, and two steals. 

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Shutting down the Trojans in the second half

USC kept things tight for the first 14 minutes and change, with neither team leading by more than one possession in that opening stretch. That changed when Ashton Hardaway buried a corner three with 5:22 in the first half, giving Saint Mary's a 23–19 lead. That sparked a 9–2 run for the Gaels to close out the half, 32-21. 

With nine points and four rebounds, Paulius Murauskas led the first half charge for the Gaels. Luke Barrett brought down five rebounds and played the entire first half without leaving the court. Mitchell Saxen chipped in five points and four rebounds, while Jordan Ross added five points and a couple of assists. At the time, the 21 points allowed in a half was the third fewest that the Gaels had allowed all season. 

While the end of the first half was momentous, it paled in comparison to the start of the second half: The Gaels went on a 32–7 scoring stretch over the first 13:30 of the frame to build a 35-point lead. That lead ballooned to as large as 37 before ultimately returning to a 35 point margin of victory, 71–36. 

The second half belonged to Jordan Ross, who led or tied for the team lead with 10 points, three rebounds, two assists, one steal, and one block. Augustas Marciulionis added seven second half points to go along with three rebounds, two assists, and a steal. The starting Gaels backcourt sliced and diced their way through the Trojans defense to shoot 7–9 from the field in the second stanza. 

While the offense did enough to carry the Gaels to an easy victory, it was the defense that truly shined. The Gaels forced six second half Trojan turnovers, turning those into 12 points. When USC was able to get a shot off, the SMC defense was so tight that there was not an inch of breathing room to get a clean look: The Trojans connected on just four of 23 shot attempts in the second half. 

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Follow the plan, make history

In preparation for the Trojans, the Saint Mary's coaching staff preached a few keys to success: Win the turnover battle, win the rebounding battle, and limit Trojan points in transition. The Gaels opened up the game with five turnovers in the first 13:30 of the game, but in final 26:30 they only had five more. 

On the glass, the Gaels doubled up the Trojans 46–23, due in big part to ferocious offensive rebounding by Luke Barrett, Paulius Murauskas, and surprise candidate Mikey Lewis, who ripped down a career-high six, including three offensive boards. This led to the Gaels outscoring USC 12–0 in second chance points. 

Finally, when it came to limiting transition buckets, while the Trojans forced 10 Saint Mary's turnovers, they scored just nine points off of those turnovers, including just three fast break points. All in all, the Gaels won Thursday night’s game because of how well they executed their coach’s gameplan. 

When the buzzer sounded, this was a game for the history books. Saint Mary's Basketball is no stranger to holding opponents under 40 points. In fact, they've done it five times in the past two seasons. That said, this was SMC’s first time holding a power-five or power four opponent below 40 since 1942, when the Gaels held Cal, a member of the Pacific Coast Conference (which became the Pac-12) to 30 points. 

“Play locked-in basketball”

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Saint Mary's had multiple beneficiaries of a porous USC defense, but three players in particular, Ashton Hardaway, Andrew McKeever, and Harry Wessels, went a combined 6–6 from the field. Hardaway hit a corner three in the first half that gave the Gaels their largest lead at four points at the time (23-19)—and he proceeded to finish the game with two massive slam dunks. 

"We know that being unbeaten puts a target on our backs, but I think it keeps us more focussed,” Hardaway said after the game. “We know that we can't take our foot off the gas—we have to play locked in basketball for a full forty minutes, and we did that tonight!”

Andrew McKeever had easy work, towering over USC’s interior defenders late in the game, finishing a pair of layups, with Harry Wessels scoring his lone basket in similar fashion. While only those three players hit at 100% clips, the Gaels shot at 51% as a team, and three more players all shot at 50% or better: Mitchell Saxen (75%), Jordan Ross (67%), and Paulius Murauskas (50%). 

“Our guys competed really hard,” said Associate Head Coach Mickey McConnell. “There was a stretch in the second half—and even really going back to late in the first half—where our guys just really guarded, and USC couldn’t get a basket…That's probably the best 40 minutes we've put together all season, and we're looking to continue to build off of that.”

UP NEXT: The Gaels take on Arizona State in the championship game of the Acrisure Classic on November 29. Tip off is at 6:30 p.m.