by Michael Vernetti

The hardest thing to understand about Saint Mary’s laughably easy 107-28 victory over Stanislaus State Monday night in Moraga is, “What should one make of it?”

Were the Gaels that great, the Warriors that bad or was it just a time warp back to November of 2010 when the Gaels decimated Chicago State by 121-52? Watching that game, I thought Chicago State did not belong in D-1 basketball, as the Dellavedova-McConnell led Gaels scored at will.

Stanislaus State has no pretensions to D-1 status, but surely Gael Coach Randy Bennett expected more of pushback from the Turlock, CA institution that just a few nights ago went down to the wire in Reno before falling to Steve Alford’s Nevada Wolfpack by 84-80. That was a Nevada team picked to finish fourth in the tough Mountain West Conference, while Stanislaus State was picked 9th in its D-2 league.

Additionally, when the Gaels faced the Warriors in Moraga two seasons ago, Stan State led 28-27 at halftime before Saint Mary’s awoke to trounce them by 76-39. So, is something brewing with this Gael team, or should fans chalk up Monday night to “just one of those things”?

Certainly the Gael offense was good but not spectacular, shooting at a 57 per cent clip but making only 7-21 three-point attempts. I counted at least seven missed bunnies, including two muffed breakaways by stalwarts Aidan Mahaney and Augustus Marciulionis. Marciulionis had an overall forgettable experience against Stan State, as his dunk attempt rattled off the back rim instead of slashing through the net. It was emblematic of a 1-4 shooting night that netted Goose only four points and several courtside verbal chats with Bennett over his defensive miscues.

The defense was suffocating, as the Gaels held the Warriors to nine baskets for the whole game — four in the first half, five in the second — for a measly 15.5 per cent success rate from the field. But one gets the true picture by looking at another statistic that, I think, tells a better story — rebounds. Saint Mary’s grabbed 59 rebounds against 22 for the undersized Warriors.

Size mismatch

The game was, more than anything, a giant size mismatch, as Stan State’s starting five included four guards ranging from 6’1″ to 6’6″ and a forward, Daniel Ameyaw, listed at 6’7″. For off-the-bench backup, the Warriors called on a 6’6″ junior forward with an evocative name but little impact, Mahda Fallay.

The Gaels’ front court of Mitchell Saxen, Joshua Jefferson and Alex Ducas dominated on the glass and in the offensive paint. Saxen was headed for a monster game with 12 points and eight rebounds until Bennett gave him the night off with only 17 minutes of playing time. His eager-beaver replacement, 7’1″ sophomore Harry Wessels, played one more minute than Saxen, going 5-5 from the floor, grabbing eight rebounds and notching two blocks and a steal.

Wessel also displayed some nifty passing chops, including a drop-off to the slashing Mason Forbes who converted against pressure from a Warrior defender and sank the free throw for a three-point play. Wessels had two assists on the night, one more than the beleaguered Marciulionis.

Speaking of Forbes, the Harvard grad continued his early-season ascension from question mark to exclamation point with a team-high 19 points on 8-10 shooting to go with seven rebounds. Gael fans will never forget the defensive excellence of the graduated Kyle Bowen, but the combination of Jefferson and Forbes alternating at the 4-spot makes them salivate in anticipation.

As the Gaels’ favorite play-by-play man, Alex Jensen, mentioned during the ESPN+ broadcast, Bennett has called Jefferson something unique in his 23-year tenure — a playmaking 4. As if to emphasize Jensen’s comment, Jefferson ripped down a rebound and dribbled coast-to-coast for a lay-up. Now that’s playmaking.

Ducas, the Gaels’ captain and super-senior small forward, seemed to be cruising toward a big night along with the other Gaels until he fell hard after crashing the boards at the start of the second half. That was it for him after only 14 minutes and seven points, and Ducas looked like a war veteran by game’s end with ice packs on his left wrist and tender back. Gael fans will be watching anxiously at the beginning of Thursday’s clash with New Mexico to see whether Ducas sustained anything more than bumps and bruises.

Depth, depth, depth

As could be expected in a rout like last night’s, Bennett turned early and often to his bench, and the impressive depth he has at his command was in full view. Bennett subbed in his son, Cade, and freshman four-star recruit, Jordan Ross, in the back court with more than 12 minutes left in the game, and the duo guided the offense as smoothly as the Gael starting guards.

Cade, who started alongside phenom Mahaney at nearby Campolinda High School in Lafayette, is the embodiment of the shopworn phrase “a coach on the floor.” He sees all the action as if it is occurring in slow motion, and puts the ball in the hands of the right person at the right time. He had four assists in his 13 minutes of playing time, including the prettiest play of the night.

Streaking down court alongside redshirt freshman Rory Hawke, Bennett tossed up an alley oop for Hawke to stuff. It was a little too far ahead of Hawke for him to get both hands on the ball, however, so he tipped it off the backboard and it slipped through the net. Speaking of players making a big early impression, Hawke scored 13 points in 10 minutes of court time, including three-out-of-three buckets from distance. Standing 6’5″ and weighing 190 pounds, Hawke is a physical re-boot of Gael legend Matthew Dellavedova, and maybe a better shooter.

How’s that for unfair pressure on the young man from Queensland.

Bennett’s biggest challenge between now and Thursday’s showdown with the daunting New Mexico Lobos and their three-headed guard tandem of Jamal Mashburn Jr., Jaelen House and Donovan Dent will be to get his charges to forget Monday night’s mayhem. New Mexico rocked the Gaels last year in Moraga, winning 69-65 in the middle of a three-game skid that was bracketed by losses to Washington and Houston.

The Lobo guards burned Saint Mary’s for 42 points, and the Gaels have no option but clamping down on them more forcefully if they want to keep their early-season momentum going before heading to the Continental Tire Classic next Friday, Nov. 17, and a first-game contest with San Diego State, and a follow-up with either Washington or Xavier.

Forget Stanislaus State, think New Mexico-San Diego State-Washingtom/Xavier.

Senior post man Mitchell Saxen, shown above in last night’s romp over Stanislaus State. was likely to begin the 23-24 season with a double-double, but spent mot of the night on the bench after scoring 12 points and grabbing eight rebounds. Photo courtesy of Tod Fierner.