No. 22 Saint Mary’s beats BYU 70-57 to clinch second seed in WCC tourney

PROVO, Utah – Calvin Hermanson scored 17 points and No. 22 Saint Mary’s cruised to a 70-57 victory over BYU on Saturday night, snapping a three-game road losing streak to its West Coast Conference rival.

With two games remaining on the regular-season schedule, the Gaels (24-3, 14-2) clinched at least a second-place finish in the conference standings behind top-ranked and undefeated Gonzaga. The Gaels will be the second seed in the conference tournament, having lost both matchups against Gonzaga.

Saint Mary’s controlled the game most of the night against BYU, riding a staunch defense on one end and running efficient offense on the other. The Gaels were able to get to the rim consistently, but also knocked down 10 3-pointers.

BYU (19-10, 10-6) shot 39.7 percent from the field and connected on four 3s.

Evan Fitzner had 15 points for Saint Mary’s, including 11 in the second half.

Saint Mary’s took a 41-30 lead into halftime thanks to Hermanson’s hot shooting and plenty of that trademark defense. The Gaels began the day ranked second in the nation in scoring defense, then held the Cougars to 37.9 percent shooting from the field in the first 20 minutes.

Saint Mary’s shot 57.1 percent at the other end, including a 3-for-4 effort from Hermanson from behind the arc.

BYU kept Gaels big man Jock Landale under control in the half – and in foul trouble throughout – but Saint Mary’s scored 22 of its 41 first-half points in the paint.

Eric Mika had 18 points for BYU, and Yoeli Childs added 13.