Player of the Game: Luke Barrett matched his career-high 19 points while reeling in 10 rebounds. / Photo by Piper Westrom for Saint Mary's Athletics
Luke Barrett and Mitchell Saxen Bring Double-Double Trouble to the Gaels’ 80–66 Victory over Cal Poly
Barrett scores 19 points and fights for 10 rebounds. Saxen racks up his 1,000th point with the Gaels. And Saint Mary’s is now 6–0.
For the third time in the past four years, Saint Mary’s (6–0) has gone unbeaten in their first six contests, defeating another quality opponent in the form of the Cal Poly Mustangs (3–4), 80–66, in a Saturday night showdown at the UCU Pavilion. While the Mustangs’ run and gun style had worked well in their first six games of the season, it was the Gaels’ physical, grind-it-out style that reigned supreme in the 14-point victory.
Luke Barrett matched his career-high with 19 points while reeling in 10 rebounds for his second double-double on the young season. Defending West Coast Conference Player of the Year Augustas Marciulionis was right behind him, with 18 points, five assists, and three steals. For defending WCC Defensive Player of the Year Mitchell Saxen, 13 was the lucky number of the night: He not only scored his 1,000th point as a Gael—a pretty sure bet, given he entered the game at 999—but he went on to score 13 in total, to go along with 13 rebounds, ripping down 11 offensive boards, more than the entire Cal Poly team.
Barrett leads the way in both halves
For the first 5:30 of this contest, Cal Poly dictated the tempo of play and took an early 13–11 lead. The Gaels responded with a 17–2 run, with nine of those points scored by super sub Mikey Lewis. By halftime, Saint Mary’s had grown their lead to 47–31.
Despite the high-scoring output, the Gaels had just one player in double digits for the half—Luke Barrett—but his impact was felt in more ways than just one. He scored 11, led the team with seven rebounds and two steals, and assisted on a couple more while not leaving the floor. As expected due to the size discrepancies between these two squads, the Gaels finished +9 on the glass, +8 on second-chance points, and +10 on points in the paint.
A Barrett layup on the Gaels’ first offensive possession of the second half gave Saint Mary's their largest lead at 18 points. But Cal Poly went on a run of their own to cut the deficit to just five with 15:21 to go. The two teams traded bucket after bucket over the next five minutes, but a 7–0 run, generated by a triple, a layup, and an assist from Augustas Marciulionis pushed the Gaels back ahead by double figures. Cal Poly came as close as nine over the final 6:30, but the Gaels defense stiffened, and the offense continued to hit its stride all the way to the 80–66 victory.
After a relatively quiet first half, Mitchell Saxen was dominant in the second half, with nine points and nine rebounds—seven of those offensive—while going a perfect 4–4 from the field. Marciulionis also scored nine in half number two, while Luke Barrett chipped in eight. The Gaels’ 10 second half offensive rebounds led to 14 second-chance points, and those were the true difference in the contest. Overall the “bruiser” stats favored the Gaels: +19 on the boards, +11 in offensive rebounding, +19 in second-chance scoring, and +18 in paint scoring.
A night for the veterans
Coming into this season, Saint Mary's had the asset of having two fifth-year seniors on their roster: Luke Barrett and Mitchell Saxen. While the duo have played together for five years, Saturday was the first time that both recorded double-doubles in the same game.
Barrett was the Gaels’ leading scorer, matching his career-high with 19 points while reeling in 10 rebounds for his second double-double this season. Barrett connected on a career-high eight field goals and matched his career highs with a trio of three-point buckets and three assists. Despite being a wing, Barrett has proven to be a ferocious rebounder this year, ranking second on the team in both rebounding and offensive rebounding.
Saxen entered the game needing just one point to become the 40th-ever Gael to score 1,000 points. It took him a while, but at the 7:14 mark of the first half, Saxen hit a layup to give the Gaels a 30–17 lead—and put his tally at 1,001. He hit one more shot in the first half, finishing with four points and four rebounds, but in the second half, he went off for nine points and nine rebounds, not missing from the field—finishing with 13 points and 13 rebounds. This was Saxen's third double-double of the season and the 18th in his years as a Gael.
A pair of point guards—and Hardaway’s fingerprints all over the win
Augustas Marciulionis was the second-highest scorer for the Gaels, with 18 points, five assists, and three steals. Jordan Ross rounded out the group of double-digit scorers with 10 points, a career-high eight assists, and just two turnovers against a ball-hawking Cal Poly defense.
While Marciulionis will typically start at the point and Ross will play the two, both of their point guard abilities were on display Saturday night. The duo accounted for 13 of the 21 Gael assists. Ross led the way with a career-high eight and just two turnovers. Marciulionis finished with five dimes, bringing his tally for assists to 333 for his career.
While Ashton Hardaway put up a respectable five points and five rebounds in the contest, his contributions went much further than the box score would indicate. He played a career-high 25 minutes, in which the Gaels were +31 against the Mustangs. He played quality defense and spaced the floor well, stymying anyone who played the four for Cal Poly. Look at the team numbers, and those show that over the last two games, while Hardaway scored 12 points and reeled in 12 boards, the Gaels are +56 with him on the floor.
UP NEXT: The Gaels head to Palm Desert for the Acrisure Classic on November 28–29. Saint Mary’s plays USC on November 28 at 6 p.m. and then will take on either New Mexico or Arizona State on November 29.
