Alex Ducas scored 18 of his 21 points in the first half Monday night as No. 21 Saint Mary’s eased past Santa Clara 79-65 in the semifinals of the West Coast Conference tournament in Las Vegas.
The result advanced the top-seeded Gaels (25-7) to Tuesday night’s final against 17th-ranked and second-seeded Gonzaga, which beat third-seeded San Francisco 89-77 in the late semifinal. The fourth-seeded Broncos dropped to 20-13 and will now hope for a bid to a postseason tournament next week.
Mason Forbes added 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting for Saint Mary’s, which pulled away in the second half behind crisp offensive execution and excellent shot selection. The Gaels went 18 of 29 (62.1 percent) after halftime, missing just three 2-point attempts.
WCC Player of the Year Augustas Marciulionis contributed 13 points and a game-high six assists for Saint Mary’s, and Aidan Mahaney kicked in 10 points. The Gaels ended the night at 53.6 percent from the field, including 37.5 percent (9 of 24) from 3-point range.
Carlos Marshall Jr. scored a game-high 26 points to pace Santa Clara and Christian Hammond came off the bench to add 13, but there wasn’t enough help behind them. The Broncos got only two points from Adama-Alpha Bal, who scored 24 in their 104-79 thumping of San Diego in the quarterfinals on Saturday night.
Ducas set the tone 13 seconds into the game, drilling the first of his seven 3-pointers, and he followed up with another on the Gaels’ next possession. Despite that, Santa Clara hung with Saint Mary’s for the first 15 minutes, tying the score at 23 on Jake Ensminger’s layup.
Then Ducas heated up from long distance again. He drained his fifth and sixth treys of the half during an 8-0 spurt that put Saint Mary’s ahead to stay. A couple of foul shots by teammate Luke Barrett in the final minute, followed by one free throw from the Broncos’ Christoph Tilly, left the Gaels a 33-26 advantage at the break.
Ducas shot 6 of 7 from the field (all from 3-point range) before halftime. His teammates were 6 of 20 on field-goal attempts over the first 20 minutes, 0 of 6 from beyond the arc.
–Field Level Media
