National Basketball Association
St. Mary's 73, Western Kentucky 51
When: 10:00 PM ET, Wednesday, December 14, 2016
Where: McKeon Pavilion, Moraga, California
Officials:
# Tony Padilla, # Chris Rasatter, # Larry Spaulding
Attendance:
2581
By The Sports Xchange
MORAGA, Calif. -- Saint's Mary's coach Randy Bennett had an interesting reaction to the Wednesday performance of Gaels guard Joe Rahon, who went scoreless for the first time this season.
"Joe was great," said Bennett after his No. 20 Gaels defeated Western Kentucky 73-51.
For Bennett, it's more about controlling the game, ball movement and defensive effort than scoring points.
Even though Rahon went 0 of 3 from the field, he collected 10 assists with only one turnover and controlled the game's pace.
"Joe and Emmett both were good," Bennett said.
Rahon and backcourt mate Emmett Naar, both of whom were all-West Coast Conference selections last season, combined for 16 assists and one turnover.
Naar added 14 points in support of the 15-point, 13-rebound effort by Gaels center Jock Landale.
But it was the offensive and defensive efficiency that spelled doom for Western Kentucky, which was coming off an impressive 18-point road victory over Indiana State.
The Gaels collected 23 assists on 31 made field goals and committed only seven turnovers.
"When we had low turnovers and high assists we're usually going to win," Naar said.
Evan Fitzner, who entered the game averaging 4.4 points per game, scored 11 points for Saint Mary's (8-1) -- all in the first nine minutes. Dane Pineau added 10 points off the bench.
Que Johnson and Justin Johnson led Western Kentucky (4-6) with 11 points apiece.
The Gaels led by as many as 18 points in the first half and extended their lead to 26 points on Kyle Clark's 3-pointer with 12:27 remaining. The Hilltoppers never threatened thereafter.
"There were a lot of minutes in the game where we were fun to watch," Bennett said. "The way we moved the ball."
Fitzner's early outburst helped the Gaels take a 19-8 lead.
Saint Mary's increased its lead to 18 points on Naar's 3-pointer with 3:58 left in the opening half, which ended with the Gaels holding a 38-24 advantage.
"Saint Mary's is really good," Western Kentucky coach Rick Stansbury said. "Their offense, we couldn't slow them down, and we couldn't do much with their defense. When you play that way at either end, it ends up as a bad result, and that's what we had."
The Hilltoppers shot just 37.5 percent from the field for the game.
"We could have executed better," Que Johnson said. "They made us work on offense and defense. They're well-coached, executed well and shoot it well."
The Gaels shot 47.7 percent, but shot better than 50 percent for most of the game before getting a little ragged when the game was out of hand.
Bennett was only moderately pleased with his team's defensive effort, despite the Hilltoppers' poor shooting percentage and low scoring output.
"Yeah, we're making progress (defensively)," he said. "I don't know if I'll ever be completely satisfied. Last year we held teams under 40 percent, and I think we could do that again."
Actually, Saint Mary's opponents shot 40.9 percent from the field in 2015-16, and are shooting 42.6 percent through nine games this season.
NOTES: Saint Mary's dropped eight spots in the rankings from last week's No. 12 spot, which was its highest in school history. ... Wednesday's game was the third of five straight home games for the Gaels, whose next road contest is their West Coast Conference opener at Loyola Marymount on Dec. 29. ... For Western Kentucky, Wednesday's game was the fifth of six consecutive contests on its opponent's home court. Its last home game was Nov. 22 and its next home contest is Dec. 21. ... Redshirt sophomore F Jabari McGhee, a transfer from Tennessee, made his Western Kentucky debut in the Hilltoppers' last game, a 77-59 victory at Indiana State on Sunday. ... Three of the Hilltoppers' starters -- Que Johnson, Pancake Thomas and Junior Lomomba -- are graduate transfers who played elsewhere last season. ... First-year Western Kentucky coach Rick Stansbury was the coach at Mississippi State from 1998-99 through 2011-12, and he led the Bulldogs to six NCAA tournament berths.
Top Game Performances
| Western Kentucky |
|
St. Mary's |
|
Justin Johnson 11 |
Scoring |
Jock Landale 15 |
|
Que Johnson 3 |
Assists |
Joe Rahon 10 |
|
Justin Johnson 6 |
Rebounds |
Jock Landale 13 |
|
Willie Carmichael 2 |
Free Throws Made |
Calvin Hermanson 1 |
|
Ben Lawson 1 |
Steals |
Calvin Hermanson 2 |
|
Ben Lawson 1 |
Blocks |
Dane Pineau 2 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Western Kentucky
|
51 |
37.5 |
5-17 |
10-13 |
10 |
30 |
1 |
3 |
13 |
| St. Mary's
|
73 |
47.7 |
9-27 |
2-5 |
23 |
36 |
3 |
8 |
7 |
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