Augustas Marciulionis recorded 25 points and seven assists to lead No. 23 Saint Mary’s to a 74-64 victory over Oregon State on Saturday night in West Coast Conference play at Moraga, Calif.
Fellow seniors Luke Barrett (13 points, 10 rebounds) and Mitchell Saxen (12 points, 11 rebounds) made key contributions as the Gaels (27-4, 17-1 WCC) closed out the regular season with their seventh consecutive victory.
Saint Mary’s is the No. 1 overall seed for the upcoming WCC tournament. Oregon State will be the No. 5 seed.
Parsa Fallah scored 14 points for the Beavers (20-11, 10-8), who lost their second straight game.
Liutauras Lelevicius added 12 points and eight rebounds and Michael Rataj also scored 12 points for Oregon State.
A three-point play by Damarco Minor and a basket by Rataj allowed the Beavers to creep within 68-64 with 1:08 remaining.
However, Paulius Murauskas drilled a 3-pointer with 42.9 seconds left and Jordan Ross knocked down three of four free throws to push the lead to 10 with 20.9 seconds left as the Gaels closed it out.
Saint Mary’s shot 40.4 percent from the field, including 9 of 22 from 3-point range. The Gaels had a dominating 39-22 rebounding edge while completing a regular-season sweep of Oregon State.
The Beavers made 47.8 percent of their shots and were 3 of 12 from behind the arc. Nate Kingz (knee) sat out for Oregon State.
Barrett scored five consecutive points to give the Gaels a 47-39 lead with 14:10 remaining in the game.
Oregon State quickly tightened it back up on 3-pointers by Josiah Lake II and Isaiah Sy.
Yet Barrett answered with a trey to give Saint Mary’s a 50-45 lead with 12:44 left in the game.
Nearly three minutes later, Marciulionis banked in a 3-pointer to give the Gaels a 55-49 advantage.
The Beavers were within two before Saint Mary’s scored the next nine points. Saxen’s layup was the lone field goal during the span as the Gaels took a 64-53 lead with 4:35 left.
Murauskas drilled a 3-pointer with six seconds left in the first half as Saint Mary’s held a 34-33 lead at the break.
Marciulionis scored 13 first-half points for the Gaels, while Fallah and Lelevicius each scored 10 in the half for Oregon State.
–Field Level Media
