First-round NCAA Tournament exit disappointing end to Saint Mary’s magical season

The Gaels have reached the NCAA Tournament three straight years and were determined to return to the Sweet 16 after losing in the second round each of the past two seasons.

In the moment, it was difficult for Saint Mary’s coach Randy Bennett embrace the big picture. But after the fifth-seeded Gaels lost 75-66 to Grand Canyon in their NCAA tournament opener at Spokane, Washington, Bennett did his best.

“These guys did a phenomenal job, to turn it from 3-5 to win 23 of the last 25,” he said Friday night. “I have to just remind myself of that.

“Right now, we’re pretty disappointed.”

The Gaels (26-8) topped 25 victories for the third year in a row after winning both the West Coast Conference regular season and tournament crowns. They have reached that win total in 13 of the past 20 seasons.

But they arrived at Friday night’s game determined this would be the year they returned to the Sweet 16 round of the NCAAs for the first time since 2010. The Gaels lost in the second round each of the past two seasons, last year to eventual national champion Connecticut.

Down just 28-27 at halftime and playing the game at their pace, the Gaels were overpowered in the second half by the Lopes (30-4), champions of the Western Athletic Conference, who won for the first time in three tries at the NCAA tournament.

“We’re such a tight-knit group and it hurts for all the right reasons,” Saint Mary’s center Mitchell Saxen said. “That’s what’s great about college basketball and that’s what sucks about it.”

Grand Canyon had nine blocked shots, eight steals and seven dunks and their aggressiveness attacking the basket repeatedly earned them trips to the foul line, where they converted 28 of 36 attempts. Saint Mary’s was 7 of 12 on free throws.

“That’s a big discrepancy to overcome,” Bennett conceded. “Having said that, we still should have overcome it. We didn’t guard well enough, definitely weren’t good enough offensively for the first 30 minutes. I don’t think we played well. I knew they were a good team coming in.”

Point guard Augustas Marciulionis, the WCC Player of the Year, said Grand Canyon was just what the Gaels had watched on tape in preparing for the game.

“We just weren’t ready to play the way we usually play. They were really physical. I don’t know why we didn’t expect that because we saw the film,” he said. “We knew they were going to try to knock us out of our rhythm and we still turned the ball over. We didn’t have a good game at all.”

Saxen also groped for answers. “We’ve played plenty of athletic teams before. I don’t know if it was the jitters of it being March Madness, but we didn’t play as well as we could have,” he said.

Gabe McGlothan, who had 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Lopes, said the game plan was simple. “The coaches told us to go out there and be athletic,” he said.

WAC Player of the Year Tyon Grant-Foster scored 22 points and attempted 14 free throws for one of the nation’s most prolific foul-shooting teams. “That’s what we do — we attack the rim,” he said.

Saint Mary’s couldn’t stop it, certainly not in the second half when Grand Canyon used a 17-1 run to open a 52-35 lead with 11 minutes left. “I thought we just lost composure there a little bit,” said Saxen, who led the team with 14 points and 11 rebounds

The Gaels closed the gap to 57-52 when Aidan Mahaney hit a 3-pointer to cap an 8-0 run with 6:35 to play. They hung around after that but got no closer.

Mahaney, the two-time All-WCC sophomore guard, scored 10 of his 13 points in the second half but shot just 5 for 21. Marciulionis had 10 points and eight assists, while Mason Forbes and Luke Barrett each scored 11.

Fifth-year senior Alex Ducas, playing his program-record 150th career game, scored just three points on 1-for-5 shooting before fouling out.

Saint Mary’s won the rebounding battle, made five more field goals and had six more turnovers than the Lopes. They also shot just 7 for 25 on 3’s and were outscored 17-10 on points off turnovers.

“I’m proud of this team — we had a great season,” Bennett said. “I don’t think we played very well tonight, but that doesn’t diminish what they did for the overall year. Grand Canyon, they played well enough to win. We did not.”