Gaels Rebound Nicely Against Portland
By Josh Horton
Saint Mary’s defeated Portland by a score of 72 to 63 to improve to 2-1 in conference play, while the Pilots fell to 1-3 with the loss.
It was a back and forth game in the early stages, but Saint Mary’s started to establish a lead and ended up leading by 6 at the half. As the Gaels started to extend their lead, the Pilots went on a 9-0 run to cut their lead to 2. Amidst the Pilots run, Matt Hodgeson was ejected from the game when he was given a flagrant 2 foul for elbowing Pilot forward Thomas van der Mars in the face twice while fighting for post position. Saint Mary’s withstood Portland’s run and ended up winning by 9 points.
Stephen Holt led the Gaels with 19 points. Beau Levesque and Brad Waldow were not far behind with 16 and 13 of their own. Waldow and Levesque controlled the glass for the Gaels with 8 and 7 respectively.
Ryan Nicholas led the Pilots in scoring with 12. Thomas Van der Mars was the biggest factor on the glass for the Pilots, as he finished with 8 rebounds.
Keys to the Game Checklist
Portland
(X) Go Inside, again and again and again and again (you get the idea): The Pilots took a lot of outside jumpers tonight and could have gone to its forward Van der Mars and Nicholas much more frequently.
Saint Mary’s
(√) Use the Stars: Waldow and Holt combined for 32 points and 11 rebounds, leading the Gaels to victory.
Matchup of the Game
The Frontcourts
Adv. – Saint Mary’s: From a statistical standpoint, the Gaels big men had the better outing. Waldow and Levesque put up 29 points compared to Van der Mars’ and Nicholas’s 19. The duos were just about even in rebounding, with the Gaels starting frontcourt pulling down 15 compared to the Pilots 12.
Player of the Game
Beau Levesque
16 points, 7 rebounds, 3-6 from the field and 9-11 from the free-throw line.
The Bottom Line
The Gaels rebounded nicely after being brutalized by Gonzaga on Thursday in the Kennel.
Next Thursday, Saint Mary’s will return home to take on Santa Clara. Portland will travel up to Spokane to play Gonzaga.