St. Mary's comes up short in NCAA opener vs. Grand Canyon | St. Mary's College | SMC Moraga

Home

Archive

Contact


search engine by freefind	advanced

Published March 27th, 2024

St. Mary's comes up short in NCAA opener vs. Grand Canyon

By Jon Kingdon

Aidan Mahaney (20) and Mitchell Saxen Photo Tod Fierner

With a below average shooting night (39%) and an out of characteristic number of turnovers (13), fifth seeded St. Mary's lost 75-66 to the twelfth seeded Grand Canyon University.

Though obviously disappointed with the loss, at the post-game press conference, St. Mary's Head Coach Randy Bennett still spoke proudly about the team. "I don't think we played very well tonight, but it doesn't diminish what we did for the overall year. Our guys did a phenomenal job to do what they did to turn it around after starting 3-5 and then winning 23 of our next 25 games. I'm very proud of this team and our kids hanging together and accomplishing what they did."

With a record of 26-8, having won the regular season conference title and the Conference Title championship, this year's team has had a plethora of awards and recognition come their way and elevated this team to one of the top teams in Coach Bennett's 23 seasons at St Mary's.

There were four players chosen to the all-West Coast Conference teams - junior Augustas Marciulionis - first team and the WCC Player of the Year, Most Outstanding Player in the WCC tournament and second team all-district by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), sophomore Aidan Mahaney - first team, second team all-district by the NABC and a finalist for the Lou Henson National Player of the Year Award, presented to the top player in mid-major college basketball, Mitchell Saxen - first team and WCC Defensive Player of the Year, Alex Ducas - second team for the second consecutive year, and sophomore Josh Jefferson - honorable mention.

With his 16th consecutive 20-win season (besides the COVID shortened 2020-21 season), Head Coach Randy Bennett has been named the WCC Coach of the Year for the third consecutive year and sixth time overall. Bennett was also named the District Nine Coach of the Year by the NBC, is one of the 20 finalists for the 2024 Hugh Durham National Coach of the Year Award, and one of the 20 finalists for the 2024 Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year Award.

Junior Luke Barrett and sophomore Chris Howell were both named to the WCC All-Academic Team, the first time both have been recognized with this award and the third consecutive year that St. Mary's had had multiple student-athletics so named.



		print story Before you print this article, please remember that it will remain in our archive for you to visit anytime. download pdf (use the pdf document for best printing results!)
		Comments
		Send your comment to: info@lamorindaweekly.com Reach the reporter at: sportsdesk@lamorindaweekly.com

		This article was published on Page 13:

Quick Links for LamorindaWeekly.com
Home Archive Advertise send artwork to: ads@lamorindaweekly.com Classified ads Lamorinda Service Directory About us and How to Contact us Submit Letter to the Editor Send stories or ideas to: storydesk@lamorindaweekly.com Send sports stories and photos to: sportsdesk@lamorindaweekly.com Subscribe to receive a delivered or mailed copy Subscribe to receive storylinks by email	Content Civic Lafayette Moraga Orinda MOFD Life Sports Schools Business Food Our Homes Letters/Opinions Calendar
Copyright Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA