MORAGA, Calif. – Outscoring the defending West Coast Conference champions in the second half, the Pacific men's basketball program fought hard despite falling 70-60 to Saint Mary's in the conference opener Saturday at UCU Pavilion.
 
Pacific (5-10, 0-1 WCC) shot .607 in the second half after a cold .214 shooting first half. The Tigers locked down defensively for most of the night and held Saint Mary's (11-3, 1-0 WCC) to a .382 clip from the floor in the game including .304 from three-point range.

The Tigers outscored the Gaels 43-36 in the second half.
 
Draining 20 points was senior Elias Ralph as he was 8-of-16 from the field. Junior Elijah Fisher shot 7-of-10 from the floor and recorded 17 points and eight rebounds.
 
An all-around effort came from junior Lamar Washington with 14 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. He logged 40 minutes for the second time this year.
 
Saint Mary's garnered a trio of double doubles from Luke Barrett (20 pts/10 rebs), Mitchell Saxen (12 pts/10 rebs) and Paulius Murauskas (10 pts/13 rebs).
 
The game was tight early as free throws by junior Jefferson Koulibaly had the Tigers trailed 17-15 at the 6:57 mark. Though, the Gaels answered with a 14-0 run to create separation in the first half and go up 31-15 with 1:17 to go.
 
Senior Petar Krivokapic drove for a score near the end of the first half, but Saint Mary's carried a 34-17 advantage at the intermission.
 
Ralph scored the first couple buckets of the second half to trim it to 34-21. A three by Ralph had the Tigers trailing 55-40 at the midway point of the frame.
 
The closest Pacific came was 10 points after Washington converted a fast-break lay-up on the final possession of the game.
 
The Tigers will remain on the road for a 7 p.m. Monday contest against San Diego at Jenny Craig Pavilion. Pacific is 16-12 all-time against the Toreros. The game can be watched on ESPN+ and heard live for free on Fox Sports 1280 AM with Zack Bayrouty on the call.
 
NOTES
- The Tigers gave up just three steals, the fewest allowed in a game this season.
 
- Ralph has scored in double-figures in every game this year. It was his fourth 20-plus scoring performance and the fourth time he made at least eight field goals.
 
- Washington entered the game ranked top-10 in the nation in assists with 6.6 per game and will improve upon his tally with seven assists against the Gaels. It was his ninth double-digit scoring outing of year and third in a row.
 
- Fisher poured in his 14th double-figure scoring game of the year and 30th of his career. It was the third time this season he shot at least 70 percent from the field with at least 10 attempts.
 
- The WCC is currently the seventh ranked conference in the country in the KenPom, the highest ranking the WCC has held as a conference since the inception of the KenPom in 1997. The WCC garners six teams in the top 76 in KenPom for the first time since the inception of the metric.
 
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