Gaels earn win after slow start
Emmett Naar had nine assists Tuesday, but his biggest helper of the night didn’t appear on the stat sheet.
After Calvin Hermanson opened the game by missing his first four three-point attempts, the St. Mary’s point guard commanded the usual dead-eye shooter to keep hoisting open looks.
Hermanson responded with 17 second-half points as St. Mary’s pulled away from Dayton for a 69-54 victory in a game between perennial midmajor powers at McKeon Pavilion.
“It was a tough little start, but Emmett was in my ear all game long to keep shooting it. He even got mad at me for not shooting one in the first half,” Hermanson said. “That’s just how we are: Guys have a lot of
confidence in each other.”
St. Mary’s (10-2) overcame Hermanson’s slow start and a seven-point, first-half deficit for its fifth straight win. The Gaels have won by an average of 14.6 points during the stretch, and none of the victories has been bigger in the overall landscape than the one against Dayton (5-6).
“That was a great program win. I think that was the best nonconference team we’ve played this year,” head coach Randy Bennett said. “People out here don’t know about Dayton, but Dayton draws 12,000 fans every game, and they have for decades. They’re a high-level program that has a lot of resources, gets a lot of good players and is wellcoached. …
“We have a ton of respect for them, so this is probably as good as we’ve felt after a win this year. We know we beat someone good.”
Hermanson connected on four second-half three-pointers, including one in the opening two minutes to spark a 12-2 run and put St. Mary’s ahead 41-33. He also was the primary defender on Darrell Davis, who came into the game averaging 18.1 points per game and left after a 1-for-12 outing.
The Gaels, who limited the Flyers to 35 percent shooting, also got 16 points from Jordan Ford, Naar’s 10th straight game with at least seven assists and a fourth consecutive double-double from Jock Landale. Dayton did a good job of fronting the center in the first half, but St. Mary’s pulled away the weak-side help in the second half, and the big man scored 12 of his 14 points and had 10 of his 11 rebounds.
“I think that kind of changed the game when he started getting some easy buckets,” Bennett said. “In the second half, we were the normal Gaels, getting the ball inside to him.”
With Dayton’s attention drawn to Landale on the block, Hermanson got more
“I best think nonconference that was the team we’ve played this year.” Randy Bennett, St. Mary’s head coach
open looks on the perimeter, and he made the most of them. The senior, who is one of three players in St. Mary’s history to make at least 200 three-pointers, went 4-for-5 from three-point range in the second half to help the Gaels pull away from a first-half slugfest.
Neither team led by more than seven points in a highintensity first half that turned Dayton’s way near the midway point. The Flyers had five different scorers during a 12-0 run, which was capped by a Xeyrius Williams (16 points) putback that put St. Mary’s in a 20-13 hole.
The Gaels finally started getting Landale involved in the second half, with the center scoring six points during that 12-2 spurt. He had four more during a 14-0 stretch that extended St. Mary’s lead to 6346.
“We’re trying to notch as many big wins as we can before conference play starts, and this was definitely one we had circled on the schedule,” Hermanson said. “We knew this was a big one for us, and I think we did a really good job of showing up for the fight.”