Loyola Marymount Lions vs Saint Mary’s Gaels Picks and Predictions February 27th 2025

No. 23 Saint Mary’s Seeks to Extend Domination of Loyola Marymount

Saint Mary’s is ranked in the Associated Press poll for the first time all season.

The No. 23 Gaels now turn their focus to continuing their domination of Loyola Marymount when the two West Coast Conference schools meet Thursday night in Los Angeles.

Saint Mary’s (25-4, 15-1) recorded an 81-56 home victory over the Lions on Jan. 7 to mark its 35th win in the past 37 meetings between the schools.

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But Loyola Marymount (16-13, 8-9) just needs to look back two years to find an upset victory as it recovered from a 16-point deficit to notch a 78-74 overtime win over the then-No. 15 Gaels.

“Hank’s House,” dubbed for the late Hank Gathers, was rocking as the Lions halted a 21-game losing streak against Saint Mary’s.

The Gaels enter this contest as the outright WCC regular-season champion for the second straight season, marking the first time the school has achieved that feat. Saint Mary’s will be the No. 1 seed for the upcoming WCC tournament.

Saint Mary’s clinched the title with a 74-67 victory over Gonzaga on Saturday in Spokane, Wash., completing its first regular-season sweep of Gonzaga since 2015-16.

“Any time you can win a championship, it’s great,” Gaels coach Randy Bennett said. “The fact it happened here is just how it worked out.”

Mikey Lewis was the standout against Gonzaga, matching his season best of five 3-pointers while scoring 18 points.

Lewis has reached double figures in points in back-to-back games after scoring in single digits eight times in a nine-game span.

“Impressive. Gonzaga is the toughest place in the West to play,” Bennett said of Lewis’ outing. “He answered the call — and then some.”

Loyola Marymount Aims to Defy History

Loyola Marymount will play its regular-season finale on Thursday, coming off a 93-82 home victory over Pepperdine after losing five of its previous six games.

The Lions shot 51.5 percent from the field and hit 13 of 28 from 3-point range.

“It’s good to be back on the right side of the win-loss column,” Lions coach Stan Johnson said. “It always helps to make some shots.”

Alex Merkviladze was 4 of 6 from beyond the arc while scoring 21 points and surpassed 1,000 career points at the school. He has 1,019 points over four seasons at Loyola Marymount after transferring from Cal State Northridge.

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Will Johnson added 19 points, and Jevon Porter scored 16 for the Lions.

“We’re a team that has to get better at handling adversity and get better at handling success,” Johnson said.

Caleb Stone-Carrawell leads Loyola Marymount with a 13.5 scoring average. Porter averages 12.5 points and a team-high 7.4 rebounds, while Merkviladze contributes 10.6 points and 6.5 rebounds.

Stone-Carrawell scored 16 points in the Lions’ last meeting with Saint Mary’s, while the Gaels were led by Augustas Marciulionis’ 23 points.

Marciulionis leads the Gaels in scoring (14.2), assists (6.2), and steals (42 total). Paulius Murauskas is averaging 12.8 points and a team-high 8.1 rebounds, while Mitchell Saxen adds 10.6 points, 7.9 rebounds, and a team-best 38 blocked shots.

Will Saint Mary’s Keep Rolling?

With Saint Mary’s looking to maintain momentum and Loyola Marymount aiming to play spoiler, this WCC matchup promises intrigue.

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