Santa Clara Broncos (25-7, 16-3 WCC) vs. Saint Mary’s Gaels (27-4, 16-2 WCC)
Paradise, Nevada; Monday, 11:30 p.m. EDT
BOTTOM LINE: No. 21 Saint Mary’s (CA) plays in the WCC Tournament against Santa Clara.
The Gaels have gone 16-2 against WCC opponents, with an 11-2 record in non-conference play. Saint Mary’s (CA) is the top team in the WCC in team defense, giving up 64.2 points while holding opponents to 40.2% shooting.
The Broncos are 16-3 against WCC opponents. Santa Clara ranks second in the WCC with 17.0 assists per game led by Jake Ensminger averaging 3.0.
Saint Mary’s (CA) scores 78.4 points, 6.1 more per game than the 72.3 Santa Clara gives up. Santa Clara averages 19.3 more points per game (83.5) than Saint Mary’s (CA) gives up (64.2).
The teams square off for the third time this season. Saint Mary’s (CA) won the last matchup 86-67 on Feb. 26. Mikey Lewis scored 21 to help lead Saint Mary’s (CA) to the win, and Allen Graves scored 20 points for Santa Clara.
TOP PERFORMERS: Paulius Murauskas is averaging 18.6 points and 7.6 rebounds for the Gaels. Lewis is averaging 15.7 points over the last 10 games.
Aleksandar Gavalyugov is shooting 35.4% from beyond the arc with 1.8 made 3-pointers per game for the Broncos, while averaging 8.4 points. Graves is shooting 58.6% and averaging 15.3 points over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Gaels: 9-1, averaging 77.7 points, 38.3 rebounds, 16.1 assists, 5.9 steals and 4.0 blocks per game while shooting 45.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 64.0 points per game.
Broncos: 8-2, averaging 85.9 points, 31.0 rebounds, 16.0 assists, 9.4 steals and 2.1 blocks per game while shooting 47.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 75.9 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
