By Mark AndersonThe Related Press
LAS VEGAS — Augustas Marciulionis and Paulius Murauskas every scored 15 factors and No. 19 and top-seeded Saint Mary’s defeated No. 9 seed Pepperdine 74-59 within the West Coast Convention Match semifinals Monday night time.
The Gaels (28-4) play second-seeded Gonzaga or No. 3 San Francisco within the championship recreation Tuesday night time, with the winner receiving the convention’s computerized bid to the NCAA Match. Defending event champion Saint Mary’s, which has gained seven consecutive video games and 17 of 18, gained’t must sweat out making the Large Dance for the fourth time in a row.
Luke Barrett added 13 factors for the Gaels.
Pepperdine (13-22) made an unlikely run, beating three higher-seeded groups to arrange this assembly. Moe Odum led Pepperdine with 19 factors and Stefan Todorovic scored 10.
That is the fourth consecutive WCC Match remaining for Saint Mary’s, which misplaced twice to Gonzaga earlier than beating the Bulldogs 69-60 final yr to finish their run of 4 convention championships and 10 of 11. The Gaels are making their sixth look within the title recreation up to now seven years.
Take aways
Pepperdine: Odum carried the Waves to the semifinals with 15-plus factors and 10-plus assists every of the primary three video games. However after scoring 12 factors within the first 12 minutes of this recreation, Odum didn’t rating once more for greater than 14 minutes.
Saint Mary’s: The Gaels outscored Pepperdine 46-26 within the lane.
Key second
Pepperdine went 5:29 within the first half and not using a discipline objective and Saint Mary’s took a 39-27 lead.
Key stats
Saint Mary’s improved to 24-0 when scoring at the very least 70 factors. The Gaels even have held 27 of 32 opponents to lower than 70.
Up subsequent
Saint Mary’s performs Gonzaga or San Francisco within the title recreation. Pepperdine’s season is over.
Initially Printed: March 10, 2025 at 8:39 PM PDT
