Aidan Mahaney scored 20 points and Alex Ducas had 17 to lead Saint Mary’s to a 68-61 win against No. 22 San Diego State on Saturday afternoon at the Jerry Colangelo Classic in Phoenix.
Logan Johnson added 15 points for Saint Mary’s (8-3). Mitchell Saxen, the leading scorer (13.9) on the season for the Gaels coming in, did not score in the first half before finishing with six points.
Matt Bradley scored 13 points, Keshad Johnson had 12 points and Lamont Butler finished with 11 points for the Aztecs (7-3).
Both teams combined for six ties through the first 5 1/2 minutes of the second half. The Gaels then used a 7-0 run to move ahead 51-46 with 10:10 left in the game.
Ducas sank a 3-pointer with 5:37 left for a 59-50 lead, his first points of the second half, but San Diego State continued to hang around, scoring the next six points to pull within 59-56 with 2:39 remaining.
The Aztecs had a chance to get even closer but missed the front end of a one-and-one with 2:13 left, and Saxen scored on the other end to stretch the lead back to 61-56 with 1:47 to go.
The Gaels went 7-for-8 at the free-throw line over the final 1:10 to keep San Diego State from getting any closer.
Micah Parrish made a half court-shot at the halftime buzzer for San Diego State to tie the score 35.
The Aztecs had fallen behind by eight when Augustas Marciulionis made a 3-pointer for a 33-25 lead with 3:41 left in the half.
Ducas scored 10 points through the first 7:06 of the game to help Saint Mary’s to a 15-12 lead.
Meanwhile, all five starters for San Diego State had a least one field goal when Darrion Trammell made a layup to cut it to 15-14 with 12:29 left in the first half.
The Gaels eventually lead by as many as nine before San Diego State closed the first half with a 10-2 run.
–Field Level Media
