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Saint Mary's needs win at Pacific to keep pace with Gonzaga (Feb 02, 2017)
A hot-shooting Saint Mary's team will try to stay within striking distance of No. 1 Gonzaga when the 18th-ranked Gaels travel to Pacific for a West Coast Conference game on Thursday at Spanos Center in Stockton, Calif.
Saint Mary's (19-2, 9-1 WCC) has won four in a row since losing to Gonzaga, which leads the Gaels by one game in the WCC standings. The Gaels are off to their best start since winning 22 of their first 24 games in 2011-12, when Matthew Dellavedova led them to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Pacific (8-15, 2-8) has lost five in a row and eight of its last 10. The Tigers are led by first-year coach Damon Stoudamire, the former Arizona standout who was named NBA Rookie of the Year with the Toronto Raptors in 1996.
Saint Mary's opened its current three-game road trip with a 72-59 victory over Santa Clara on Saturday. After playing Pacific, the Gaels will visit San Diego before going home to face Portland, Gonzaga and Loyola Marymount.
Jock Landale posted his ninth double-double of the season in the win over Santa Clara with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Emmett Naar added 15 points and nine rebounds.
"Jock was really good offensively," Saint Mary's coach Randy Bennett said. "He was great -- put us in a position to win."
Saint Mary's shot a sizzling 57.1 percent from the field and made 8 of 16 from 3-point range. The Gaels also had 18 assists on 24 made baskets and accumulated a 31-20 rebounding advantage.
The sharp-shooting continued a trend for Saint Mary's. The Gaels shot 56.9 percent from the field in an 85-65 victory over Pepperdine on Jan. 21 and 57.4 percent in a 66-46 victory over USF on Jan. 26.
"We played well tonight," Bennett said after the win over Santa Clara. "Played well against USF and played well against Pepperdine. I think we are getting better."
Pacific is coming off an 81-60 loss to USF on Saturday. Ray Bowles posted 19 points and six rebounds for the Tigers. Anthony Townes had 11 points and seven rebounds. T.J. Wallace added 10 points.
The Tigers shot just 37.3 percent from the field. They were 12 of 19 at the free-throw line.
"We missed a lot of easy shots," Stoudamire said. "I think that we have an identity. When we are a good team, we're balanced (and) that's inside-out. When we can't hit our outside shots, it looks like it looks tonight. We just have to keep plugging away."
The Tigers struggled badly from 3-point range against USF. They made just 4 of 18 from beyond the arc.
"We're confident shooting from 3," Bowles said. "Just tonight they weren't falling. I hit one, but I think we had some good looks. We try to get the ball inside and play inside-out.
"We're a better team when we do that instead of just playing on the perimeter. It puts pressure on the defense when we go inside and look for the kick-outs."
