Hero for the night: Paulius Murauskas had a career-high 29 points, including six three-pointers. / Photo by Joe Oliver for SMC Athletics
Gaels Notch Third Power-Four Victory of the Season at Utah, Winning 72–63
Paulius Murauskas scores 29 points, including six three-pointers. The Gaels won every road game last season and carry that streak into 2024–25.
The Saint Mary’s Gaels (9–1) had never won in the Huntsman Center coming into Saturday night’s game in Salt Lake City, with their last win at the University of Utah’s home court coming in 1958. That changed this weekend, as the Gaels downed the Utes (6–2) in front of a raucous home crowd 72–63, avenging last season’s home loss to Utah. While this is the Gaels’ first true road win of the season, it carries on an impressive streak: They remain unbeaten on the road for all of last season and this season.
Paulius Murauskas was the hero for the Gaels with career-high 29 points to go along with seven rebounds. Those points included a trio of three-pointers in the final minutes of the second half, which sealed the victory for Saint Mary’s—and a total of six triples for the night.
Good on both ends
The Gaels were equal parts brilliant on offense and defense in half one. Saint Mary's jumped out to a double digit lead less than seven minutes in, and kept it that way for the remainder of the half, extending their lead to 39–22. Utah entered this matchup averaging 34 points per game in first halves, but the Gaels kept them to just 22 points on 24% shooting and 20% three-point shooting.
Paulius Murauskas led the offense with 11 points and four rebounds. Luke Barrett did not miss from the field or stripe, racking up seven points while not leaving the floor. He’s one of the top three players in the NCAA for minutes played this season. Harry Wessels led the rebounding front with five to go along with four points, all at the line, while Augustas Marciulionis had four assists to go along with five points. Both teams turned the ball over seven times, but the Gaels converted Utah’s seven giveaways into eight points, while Utah was limited to just two points off of turnovers, due to some stellar transition defense by the Gaels.
Two minutes into the second half Saint Mary’s extended their lead out to 21 points before Utah mounted a furious comeback effort. Over the next five minutes, the Utes went on an 18–3 run to cut the deficit to just six points. The Gaels managed to hold Utah at arm’s length, though, keeping the game at two possessions until the four-minute mark, when the Utes got within two and had a chance to cut it to one with a free throw. But they missed the bonus shot, and Paulius Murauskas went on to hit three triples in the next six possessions, putting the proverbial nail in the coffin, as the Gaels closed things out with a 72–63 victory.
Muruaskas scored 18 second half points, going 4–5 from three. After Mitchell Saxen fouled out, Andrew McKeever played big minutes, leading the way with four rebounds and going 2–2 from the field in the second half. Augustus Marciulionis added four more assists.
“Transition defense and perimeter defense were huge for us tonight, especially in the first half,” said Associate Head Coach Mickey McConnell. “When you come in as a road team and can build a double-digit lead as we did in the first half, primarily defending a really good offensive team in Utah, it puts you in really good shape. I think we were really good on both ends of the court today, and I am really proud of how locked in our guys were.”
Meet Marauskas the sharpshooter
In shooting his career-high 29 points, Paulius Murauskas went 10–15 from the field and 6–10 from three—after entering the night 6–27 from beyond the arc. Augustas Marciulionis added 10 points and eight assists, while Andrew McKeever score six points and led the team with eight rebounds, going a perfect 3–3 from the field. Luke Barrett did not leave the floor for the entire 40 minutes. He entered the contest ranked third in the country in minutes played per game, and will likely jump even higher after this performance.
Throughout the early going of this season, Gaels fans have gotten to know Paulius Murauskas as a bruising power forward who outmuscles any opposing four man in his path. What they hadn’t seen as much of was the shooter who in his previous stop in Tucscon earned a reputation for knocking down triples at an impressive 52% clip. Saturday night, that Murauskas was on display. He became the first Gael since Alex Ducas to bury six threes in a contest; Ducas racked up those against Santa Clara last year in the WCC Semifinals. While Murauskas was on tonight from beyond the arc, he also dominated in multiple other facets of the game, including going 4–5 from inside the arc, 3–3 from the stripe, and reeling in seven rebounds.
When both Mitchell Saxen and Harry Wessels picked up two fouls in the first half, the Gaels went to Andrew McKeever off the bench; it was the first time this season he saw action in the first half. McKeever impressed with one made field goal on one attempt, four rebounds, and one blocked shot. In the second half the Gaels went back to McKeever as Saxen got into deeper foul trouble. McKeever hit two more field goals on two attempts and brought down four more rebounds, leading to his team-high eight for the night. McKeever played a career-high 21 minutes and has now made 10 of his first 11 field goal attempts to open his career.
For Saint Mary’s, this marks their third Power Four victory in four tries this season.
UP NEXT: The Gaels have a week off before heading to Idaho Falls for a neutral site game vs. Boise State on December 14. Tip off is scheduled for 6 p.m. Pacific.
Story updated December 9 at 2 a.m. Pacific.
