Saint Mary's easily handles San Francisco 88-73

Jan 11, 2014, 08:40 pm

MORAGA, Calif. -- Stephen Holt scored 21 points and Saint Mary's beat San Francisco 88-73 on Saturday in conference play.

San Francisco (11-7, 4-2) entered the game with aspirations of remaining atop of the West Coast Conference, but Saint Mary's (13-5, 3-2) had other ideas and shot out to an early 20-10 lead. The Gaels worked that into a 43-28 lead at the break on 56 percent shooting.

Beau Levesque helped move the Gaels to their largest lead in the game, hitting a 3-pointer at 9:46, going up 73-50. Holt's free throw efforts in the final minutes helped to keep the Dons at bay as time ran out.

The Dons shot 51 percent from the field, compared to a scorching 59 percent effort by the Gaels. The Gaels outscored San Francisco at the line 29-16.

San Francisco will need a Gonzaga loss on Saturday night to maintain a share of the WCC lead.