CLEVELAND, OH – The St. Mary’s Gaels overcame a late second half deficit to rally back and defeat the Vanderbilt Commodores 59-56 in game two of four on Friday from Rocket Arena.  The Gael’s shot 4 of 8 from long range in the second half as part of the comeback that saw them trail by 7 with 10 minutes to go.  They came back to lead for the final 6:34 of the contest.

Sparking the comeback for the Gaels was Jordan Ross who finished with 15 points while Augustas Marciulinous had 14.  Luke Barrett and Mitchell Saxen each had 12 to do their part in the comeback.  After only scoring 22 in the first half, the Gael’s got hot to score 37 in the second half for the comeback victory. The only player to reach double digits for Vanderbilt was Jason Edwards with 18.

The Vanderbilt Commodores led by as many as 11 at one point in the first half, as they led for all but the 34 seconds of it. By halftime they maintained a 29-22 lead over St. Mary’s and were in firm control.  Neither team exactly lit up from long range in the first half as they shot a combined 5 of 29 from long range.

The poor shooting led to a plethora of rebounds however as they combined for 32 of those with St. Mary’s leading in that category 17-15.  The main difference for Vanderbilt was there bench, outscoring the Gael’s 7-0, which was the exact difference at the break. Vandy also made their hay by scoring 10 points off 6 Gael’s turnovers.

Halfway through the second half, the Gael’s cut the lead down to 2 at 42-40 as Vanderbilt had gone cold from the floor. Then, the Gael’s stayed hot and tied it up at 43 with 7:30 to play. From there, the Gaels came back to take their first lead from early in the first at 48-46.  Both teams kept battling with three ball after three ball until the Gael’s clang to a 53-50 with 4:23 to play.

Luke Barrett hit a corner three with 1:59 to play that was quickly answered by a Vandy three from Devin McGlockton to keep it a three-point game at 56-53 with 1:18 to play.  After St. Mary’s pushed it to five, a Tyler Nickel three for Vanderbilt cut it back down to 2 at 58-56 with 56 seconds to play. A trip to the foul line for Mitchell Saxton increased the Gaels lead to 59-56 with 27.7 left on the clock.

Vanderbilt had a chance to tie, but a three-point attempt from Jason Edwards went south, and St. Mary’s avoided the mild upset. They will now go on to play Alabama who defeated Robert Morris earlier in the day.