Augustas Marciulionis scored 17 points and matched his career high of 11 assists and No. 17 Saint Mary’s clinched its first outright West Coast Conference regular-season title since the 2011-12 season with an 83-57 victory over Pepperdine on Thursday night at Malibu, Calif.
Luke Barrett added 14 points and eight rebounds for the Gaels (24-6, 15-0 WCC), who own the nation’s longest current winning streak at 16 games. Alex Ducas had 12 points and 10 rebounds, Mason Forbes had 11 points and Mitchell Saxen scored 10 before fouling out for Saint Mary’s.
The Gaels shot 59.6 percent from the field, had a 37-24 rebounding edge and led by as many as 27 points while beating the Waves for the 15th time in the past 17 meetings. Saint Mary’s, which will be the No. 1 seed for the upcoming WCC tournament, closes the regular season at home against No. 23 Gonzaga on Saturday night.
Jevon Porter scored 22 points for Pepperdine (12-19, 5-11), which led for just 35 seconds. WCC scoring leader Michael Ajayi had just seven points on 3-of-11 shooting for the Waves.
No. 19 Washington State 75, Southern California 72
Andrej Jakimovski and reserve Isaiah Watts each scored 18 points as the Cougars rallied down the stretch to beat the Trojans in Pullman, Wash.
Washington State (22-7, 13-5 Pac-12) didn’t take its first lead until Watts drained a 3-pointer with 2:35 left to make it 68-67. Jaylen Wells gave them the lead for good on a short jumper with 1:58 left, then drilled a 3-pointer at the 1:18 mark for a 73-69 lead.
Isaiah Collier scored a game-high 24 points for USC (11-17, 5-12). Boogie Ellis and Kobe Johnson each missed 3-point attempts that would have tied the game in the final six seconds.
No. 23 Gonzaga 86, San Francisco 68
Graham Ike scored a game-high 26 points and No. 23 Gonzaga celebrated its return to the Top 25 with a win over the host Dons at the Golden State Warriors’ arena.
Nolan Hickman added 22 points for the Bulldogs (23-6, 13-2 WCC), who won their seventh straight game. Ryan Nembhard contributed 15 points, nine rebounds and six assists.
Malik Thomas scored 21 points for the Dons (22-8, 11-4), who were hoping to beat the Zags and make a late push toward a possible NCAA Tournament at-large berth. Jonathan Mogbo added 14 points and 11 rebounds.
–Field Level Media
