No. 23 Saint Mary's beats Division II Stanislaus State 107-28 in season opener
MORAGA, Calif. (AP) — Aidan Mahaney scored 15 points and No. 23 Saint Mary's rolled to the most lopsided victory in school history, beating Division II Stanislaus State 107-28 on Monday night.
“I feel like all our guys were pretty dialed in and ready to go,” Mahaney said. “Obviously, first game of the year there can be nerves and whatever. But I felt like we handled it pretty well.”
The Gaels (1-0) come into this season with high hopes after making it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons for the first time in program history.
Saint Mary's was ranked in the preseason for the fourth time ever thanks to the return of key starters Mahaney, Alex Ducas and Mitchell Saxen.
“I feel like this has been established as an elite, elite program,” Mahaney said. “I think we’re attempting to take a next jump into a special category. Continuing to work every day. But we love that our fans are excited about it. We’re excited about it. I think everyone in our locker room knows that we have something special if we continue to work. There should be excitement about this team. I think this team looks a little different than previous Saint Mary’s teams.”
Mason Forbes scored 19 points to lead Saint Mary’s and Rory Hawke added 13.
The opener against Stanislaus State hardly provided a test for the Gaels, who were in complete control the whole way.
Saint Mary's outscored Stanislaus State 42-4 over the final 15:31 of the first half, holding the Warriors to 1-for-24 shooting from the floor to take a 50-11 halftime lead.
“We just kind of broke them defensively,” coach Randy Bennett said. “Our defense was tough for them to score on and I think the game separated point wise and they lost hope a little bit.”
John Wade III scored seven points to lead Stanislaus State. This game was the second exhibition against a Division I team for the Warriors before they open their season this weekend. They lost 84-80 to Nevada last week.
BIG PICTURE
Stanislaus State: The Warriors are coming off a 10-18 season at the Division II level so weren't expected to provide much of a challenge. They shot 15.5% for the game.
Saint Mary's: The Gaels opened the season with a mismatch but do have a challenging nonconference schedule starting with Thursday night's game against New Mexico, which ended a school-record 23-game home winning streak last season. The Gaels also play 2023 national runner-up San Diego State, either Xavier or Washington, Pac-12 foe Utah and Boise State in their first eight games of the season.
UP NEXT
Stanislaus State: Visit Point Loma on Friday night.
Saint Mary’s: Host New Mexico on Thursday night.
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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-pol l and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball