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No. 22 St. Mary's vies for rare win at BYU (Feb 18, 2017)
PROVO, Utah -- One major task remains for St. Mary's.
The No. 22 Gaels need to do everything in their power to build a rock-solid case for an NCAA Tournament at-large bid bid ahead of Selection Sunday. That means piling up good wins and avoiding bad losses.
It also means earning a road victory over BYU on Saturday for the first time in four seasons.
St. Mary's (23-3, 13-2 WCC) last defeated the Cougars in Provo during the 2012-13 season when Matthew Dellavedova's half-court buzzer beater handed the Gaels a 70-69 victory. The win formed part of a four-game winning streak in the series at the time for St. Mary's. Ironically, that win fell in the same season that the Gaels made their most recent NCAA Tournament appearance.
BYU has lost only twice on its home court this season. The Cougars' only setback at the Marriott Center in WCC play came at the hands of Gonzaga.
"It's one of those atmospheres that's tough and I just told our guys that," Gaels coach Randy Bennett said. "It'll be a great challenge for us, I'm excited to go there and play against those guys and see what we can do."
Things are trending in positive direction for St. Mary's to break the drought. The Gaels bounced back from a loss to No. 1 Gonzaga last Saturday by thrashing Loyola Marymount 81-48 on Thursday night.
St. Mary's smothered the Lions with its usual brand of stifling defense. Loyola Marymount shot just 38 percent from the floor -- including 26.7 percent from the perimeter. The Gaels held a 37-19 advantage on the glass and scored 16 points off 13 Loyola Marymount turnovers to fuel their 11th straight win over the Lions.
Such domination is nothing new for this team. St. Mary's ranks second nationally in scoring defense (56.3 ppg) behind Virginia. The Gaels also rank fourth nationally in rebound margin (10.0).
Bennett felt even more encouraged from what he saw his team do on offense against Loyola Marymount. The Gaels shot 59.6 percent from the field and had 19 assists on 28 total baskets. It helped St. Mary's lead by as many as 38 points after halftime.
"It's just what the doctor ordered," Bennett said. "We need an ability to separate from teams. We've been able to do it by locking them out defensively but tonight we did it offensively too."
BYU (19-9, 10-5) enters the game with a bit of offensive momentum of its own after beating San Diego 82-70 on Thursday. The Cougars shot 47.1 percent from 3-point range -- led by a 5-of-7 effort from guard Nick Emery -- to surge ahead of the Torreros early and stay in front throughout the second half.
At one point in the first half, BYU made 13 consecutive baskets without a miss. It helped put the Cougars ahead 39-22 and gave them enough of a cushion to weather a late San Diego rally just before halftime.
"We're a young team but it's a process," said Emery, who finished with a team-high 26 points. "We're learning how to get those good shots. That streak was awesome and got us going to a nice lead."
BYU fell to St. Mary's 81-68 on Jan. 5. The Gaels held the Cougars to 44 percent shooting and outrebounded BYU 37-27. St. Mary's got 26 points on 11-of-13 shooting and nine rebounds from Jock Landale.
Eric Mika paced the Cougars with 28 points on 12-of-17 shooting and 10 rebounds in the loss.
Both centers will provide the key matchup to watch again on Saturday. Londale is averaging 17.0 points and 9.5 rebounds for the Gaels and Mika is tallying 20.0 points and 9.5 rebounds per game for the Cougars.
St. Mary's shot 55 percent from the field last time around against BYU and had 21 assists on 31 baskets. The Cougars are hoping to have better answers for the Gaels' offense in the rematch.
"Defensively we've improved," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "We'll see if we're better at handling their ball screens. Hopefully our guys are more aware of the challenge and more familiar with what they do as a team."
BYU leads the all-time series 12-9 although St. Mary's has won three of the last five games between the two teams.
