The Saint Mary’s Gaels used a 12-0 run midway through the second half to roll to a 101-69 victory over the Point Loma Nazarene Sea Lions. Point Loma gave Saint Mary’s an unexpected amount of trouble early on as they went into half time down 44-32. The Sea Lions cut the lead to 61-51 with 10:57 left in the second half, at which point the Gaels put their run together, which put the game away.
The Gaels were led by sophomore center Tim Williams who scored 23 points and pulled down 14 rebounds. The Sea Lions had no real answer on the boards as Saint Mary’s out-rebounded them 46-21. Point Loma did receive a strong effort from Hayden Lescault who poured in 22 points on 9 of 13 shooting with three 3-pointers.
The Gaels received strong efforts across the board including 18 points from Matthew Dellavedova, 14 points from Mickey McConnell, and ten points from Kenton Walker. Dellavedova was key in the second half as he put up 14 of his 18 points in the final twenty minutes.
The biggest news for Saint Mary’s has to be the performance by Tim Williams. The sophomore forward put up career highs in points, rebounds, field goals made, and free throws made. He was 8-for-9 from the field and 7-for-8 from the free throw line. If the Gaels are going to have any chance of coming close to repeating last season’s historic effort, they’ll need an underclassman to emerge. As a red-shirt sophomore Williams is certainly in a position to fill that role.