Augustas Marciulionis scored a career-high 18 points before fouling out with the score tied, and Saint Mary’s held on to upset No. 13 Colorado State 64-61 in a nonconference game on Saturday afternoon in Fort Collins, Colo.
Joshua Jefferson had 16 points and 13 rebounds, and Aidan Mahaney scored 10 points for Saint Mary’s (5-5), which began the season ranked No. 23.
Isaiah Stevens scored 20 points, Patrick Cartier had 16 and Nique Clifford finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds for Colorado State (9-1), which had climbed to its highest ranking in program history this week.
With Marciulionis on the bench, having fouled out with 4:08 remaining, Jefferson sank a 3-pointer off an inbounds pass with 2 seconds on the shot clock to extend the lead to 61-57 with 52 seconds left.
Mahaney sank two free throws with 14.2 seconds remaining for the three-point margin and the Rams missed two 3-point tries in the final seconds.
The Rams sank back-to-back 3s to start the game and scored the first eight points before Saint Mary’s came back with a 12-0 run to move ahead 12-8.
After making three of its first four shots, Colorado State missed nine of its next 10, allowing the Gaels to expand their lead to 19-10 on a 3-pointer by Luke Barrett with 9:15 left in the opening half.
Marciulionis sank a jumper coming out of a timeout to give Saint Mary’s its first double-digit lead at 24-14 with 6:58 left in the half.
Clifford sank a 3 in transition to cut the lead to 27-26 and Colorado State moved back ahead 28-27 on Clifford’s layup off a turnover with 3:06 left before halftime.
Mitchell Saxen collected an offensive rebound and scored on a turnaround jumper as time expired to move the Gaels back ahead 33-32 at the break.
The Rams quickly moved ahead 34-33 on their first possession of the second half.
Saint Mary’s regained the lead 35-34 on a layup by Jefferson with 18:10 left and stretched the advantage to as many as nine points with 6:48 remaining. Colorado State regained the lead 57-56 on two free throws by Cartier with 2:10 to go.
–Field Level Media