Paulius Murauskas scored 15 of his team-high 19 points in the second half as Saint Mary’s beat Virginia Tech 77-66 on Thursday in a battle of unbeatens to advance to the Battle 4 Atlantis final at Paradise Island, Bahamas.
Andrew McKeever and Joshua Dent added 14 points apiece and Rory Hawke had 10 points for the Gaels (8-0), who will face No. 24 Vanderbilt (7-0) in the championship game on Friday. The Commodores beat VCU 89-74 on Thursday afternoon.
Saint Mary’s led wire-to-wire and held Virginia Tech (6-1) to 30.9% shooting from the field that included just 7-of-30 shooting (23.3%) from 3-point range.
Amani Hansberry led the Hokies with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Jaden Schutt scored 14 of his 17 points in the second half and Neoklis Avdalas finished with 13 points for Virginia Tech, which faces VCU in the third-place game on Friday morning.
Virginia Tech was outscored 38-22 on points in the paint while playing without starting forward Tobi Lawal, who sat out with a lower-body injury. Lawal averages 12.8 points and 10.3 rebounds per game.
Jailen Bedford was limited to two points after scoring a team-high 17 points in Virginia Tech’s 66-64 quarterfinal win over Col
