WCC roundup: Saint Mary’s beats LMU, reaches 20 wins

Calvin Hermanson scored 16 and Saint Mary’s notched its ninth straight 20-win season with a 68-62 win over Loyola Marymount on Saturday night in Moraga, California.

The Gaels (20-4, 11-3) had their largest lead at 43-23 after Hermanson capped a 10-2 start to the second half with a 3-pointer at the 14:33 mark.

The Lions (11-15, 4-11) steadily chipped away at the deficit for the rest of the second half and Steven Haney’s 4-point play cut it to seven with 42 seconds left. But LMU got no closer than the final score.

Emmett Naar added 13 points and seven assists for the Gaels. Evan Fitzner scored 12 and Dane Pineau had nine points and 10 rebounds.

Marin Mornar and Brandon Brown had 12 points each. Shamar Johnson added 11 for Loyola Marymount, which was without its leading scorer and rebounder, Adom Jacko, who missed the game due to an injury.

BYU 92, Santa Clara 62: Nick Emery had 18 of his 31 points before intermission Saturday and the Cougars cruised in the second half to beat the host Broncos.

Chase Fischer added 22 points and Kyle Collinsworth had 15 points, seven rebounds and eight assists.

BYU (19-8, 10-4) shot 70.4 percent (19 of 27) from the field in the first half, pulling away while Santa Clara (9-17, 5-9) slumped. The Broncos missed 14 straight from the field and BYU took advantage by outscoring Santa Clara 32-13 to close the half up 51-32.

Jared Brownridge had 16 points and KJ Feagin 14 to lead Santa Clara. The Broncos got no closer than 14 early in the second half and the Cougars steadily advanced from there.

San Francisco 68, San Diego 51: Tim Derksen scored 18 points and the Dons defeated the visiting Toreros.

Ronnie Boyce III scored 10 of his 14 points in the first half that ended with San Francisco (14-11, 7-7) leading 31-17 after San Diego shot just 26 percent.

Uche Ofoegbu and Devin Watson added 11 points each with Dont’e Reynolds grabbing 11 boards to lead a 41-26 rebounding edge for the Dons, who outscored San Diego 34-18 in the paint and 21-12 off turnovers.

Olin Carter III scored 11 points and Duda Sanadze and Alex Floresca 10 each for the Toreros (8-17, 3-11).

San Francisco scored the first 10 points of the game and never trailed.

A 13-0 run got San Diego within six points with 13:39 remaining before a 10-0 run by the Dons and within nine before San Francisco scored the game’s final eight points.

Pepperdine 65, Pacific 63 (OT): Lamond Murray Jr. scored 20 points while Amadi Udenyi had the go-ahead score and a game-saving steal in overtime to help the Waves edge the Tigers in Stockton, California.

Tied at 59 with 2:09 left in the extra period, Udenyi got the first of two free throws to put Pepperdine back on top, then Murray dropped in a layup to pad it. Pacific twice cut the deficit back to a point before Jeremy Major hit a free throw to stretch Pepperdine’s advantage to 65-63 with 15 seconds left.

Udenyi got the steal to cement the win.

Stacy Davis added 12 points and 12 rebounds for Pepperdine (16-10, 9-6) and Major finished with 11 points.

Pacific (7-17, 5-9) forced overtime with a 3-pointer from Ilias Theodorou to tie it at 56 at the end of regulation.

Alec Kobre led the Tigers with 22 points and Ray Bowles added 10.