Paulius Murauskas finished with 29 points and hit a game-clinching 3-pointer to lift Saint Mary’s to a 72-63 win over Utah on Saturday in Salt Lake City.
Murauskas went 6-for-10 from 3-point territory, including a clutch trey with 28 seconds left that ended the Utes’ second-half rally. The sophomore made 10 of 15 field goals overall and grabbed seven rebounds.
Augustas Marciulionis added 10 points with eight assists as the Gaels (9-1) won their first true road game of the season.
Gabe Madsen scored 15 points and Miro Little totaled 14 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, but Utah (6-2) couldn’t overcome a deficit that reached 21 points early in the second half.
Saint Mary’s led 46-25 with 17:55 to go in the second half after Mitchell Saxon made a layup and Marciulionis hit two free throws.
Utah roared back with a 13-0 run, capped by seven straight points by Madsen, to make it a six-point game.
Caleb Lohner, a tight end on Utah’s football team and whose collegiate career began on the hardwood at BYU and continued at Baylor, also had a bucket in that streak. He finished with eight points in his first game with the Utes.
Lohner’s layup at the 4:05 mark cut Saint Mary’s lead to 57-55.
Murauskas answered with two 3-pointers and a free throw in a two-minute span to give Saint Mary’s a 66-59 lead with 1:57 left.
In the final minute, after Lawson Lovering’s jumper trimmed the deficit back to five, Murauskas beat the shot clock to drain a clutch trey with 28 seconds remaining.
Saint Mary’s went up by 18 points in the first half before Ezra Ausar scored four points in a 6-0 Utah run that made it a 12-point game.
The Utes then struggled heading into the break, going scoreless in the final 4:20 as Saint Mary’s took a 39-22 halftime lead.
Utah shot just 23.5 percent in the first half, including 2-for-10 from 3-point range. The Utes, who came into the contest ranked first in the nation with 21.3 assists per game, had only four assists in the first half before finishing with 14.
–Field Level Media
