The St Mary’s Gaels forward Sam Fotu (42) drives on San Jose Spartans center Hugo Clarkin (5) on Fri Dec 11, 2020 at McKeon Pavilion in Moraga (smcgaels.com photo)
By Barbara Mason
Friday night the San Jose Spartans took on the St. Mary’s Gaels at McKeon Pavilion. St. Mary’s came into the game with a 5-1 record while San Jose’s record is 1-0 due to the cancellations they have experienced this year. The Gaels are riding high winning five games in a row. They most recently beat the University of Texas at EL Paso. Their only loss came at the hands of Memphis 73-56.
The San Jose Spartans handled Fresno Pacific by the score of 87-79. A win tonight for the Spartans would mean a second straight victory as well as their first win over the Gaels since 2000.
The Spartans would be looking for another explosive performance by sophomore Omari Moore and Richard Washington who had 38 points against Fresno Pacific. All eyes will be on this power duo. Right now the Spartans are the No. 1 ranked team in the nation in defensive rebounding.
The Spartans will be without 4 players in this game although it has not been announced that any of them have covid. Seneca Knight is one of those players which is a blow for San Jose. The Spartans were looking at a very real challenge in this game.
The Gaels will be highlighting Tommy Kuhse, one of their offensive leaders, who had 24 points in their latest win against UTEP. St. Mary’s will also be counting on Matthias Tass and Alex Ducas to carry their offense. Right now the Gaels are a high-scoring team recording 72 or more points in each of their last four games. Head Coach Randy Bennett is 7-0 against San Jose.
It was a very tough start for the Spartans trailing from the start of the game. It was all St. Mary’s as they took a 57-27 lead into the locker room. Nine different Gaels scored in the first half shooting 68 percent which gave them a 30 point lead.
In the first half the only Spartan that had shot in double digits was Richard Washington with 13 points. It was the dominating Gaels that had two players in double digits: Matthias Tass with 11 and Dan Fotu with 11. The Gaels had a combined 25 points off the bench while the Spartans only had 7.
Midway through the second half the Spartans were trailing 77-42 and they struggled to get anything going against the powerhouse Gaels. The Spartans got some nice play from Washington and Moore with 35 combined points but it was the Gael’s bench with the combined 30 points of Tass and Fotu that did San Jose in. The final score was a shocking 96-61. San Jose will be facing Cal Poly Sunday with tip off at 1:00.
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