We are live at the McKeon Pavilion in Moraga as the Pacific men’s basketball team prepares to face Saint Mary’s (7-2) for the second time this season.
The Tigers (5-5) upset the Gaels 76-66 on Nov. 23 in Anaheim at the DirecTV Classic with a balanced attack led by senior point guard Lorenzo McCloud’s 18 points. Pacific outrebounded Saint Mary’s 34-24 that day and survived the Gaels making 11 3-pointers, most of which came after Pacific had built up a 19-point lead.
Junior forward Beau Levesque led Saint Mary’s with 18 points that day and leading scorer Matthew Dellavedova had 16. Dellavedova spent his summer representing Australia in the London Olympic Games and averages 19.6 points per game.
Pacific will be seeking to bounce back from a 75-71 loss at Spanos Center to Santa Clara on Saturday night despite a career-high 23 points from junior transfer Sama Taku.
So that’s the daunting task awaiting the Tigers at tipoff in 10 minutes, a second win over Saint Mary’s in a month, which under coach Randy Bennett is one of five programs to win 25 or more games in each of the past five seasons, joining Duke, Kansas, BYU and Gonzaga.
