Late Saint Mary Barrage Dampens Second Half Rally from Ross, Eagles

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – James Ross III dropped a season high 25 points to help the Eagles keep pace, but an onslaught of second-half three-pointers from Saint Mary (10-10, 6-8 KCAC) was enough to help the Spires salt away an 88-69 victory over the Eagles (3-13, 2-12 KCAC) in Mabee Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon.

Saint Mary is by no means the best team in the KCAC, but the Spires look to be a much improved team compared to the one the Eagles nearly beat on two separate buzzer-beater bids up in Leavenworth two months ago. One of the last place teams in the conference a season ago, the Spires are now fully in the mix for a top eight position and a spot in next month's KCAC Tournament as the conference calendar officially flips to the second half.

Playing the second leg of a rare two-game homestand, the Eagles got early buckets from Jehoiada Goins and Robert Lee III to grab two early leads, but the Spires scored 10 of the next 12 points to make the game's first big move. Ross delivered a deep ball to get Avila back within one, 12-11, with about 12 minutes left in the first half, but that's when the Spires unleashed their first barrage of three-balls to go up by double digits for the first time, and the Eagles were never able to dig out of that hole.

The Eagles were certainly reinforced by the additions of Ross and Matthew Boldt, both of whom were forced to miss Wednesday's game against Ottawa, and Avila actually more than kept pace with Saint Mary in the second half: Ross exploded for 22 points, exactly half of Avila's total, and the Eagles were outscored by only two points over the final 20 minutes to stay within shouting distance of their local foes.

And no amount of shouting was going to be able to cool down the Spires in the second half. USM shot exactly 50% (17-of-34) from the floor in the second half, 11 of which were three-pointers. Over one unreal stretch, the Spires' last ten made field goals were all three-pointers. Even still, the Eagles were able to weather that storm and match shots, shooting 46% from the field as a team. But Avila's halftime deficit was too much to overcome, and the Spires earned a conference victory on the road.

Kaeden Bonner came out of nowhere to score a team high 22 points on seven made threes for USM, and three other Spires finished in double figures. Ross scored an Avila career best 25 points on 9-of-19 shooting, becoming the third Eagle this month to score exactly 25 points in a game, joining Goins and George Williams. Both Boldt and Goins finished one basket shy of a double-double, with a combined total of 16 points and 21 boards. Joe Sturino made his varsity debut for the Eagles in the second half.

Up next, Avila men's basketball will make the trek west to Winfield, Kansas to face Southwestern in a KCAC contest next Wednesday. The Eagle women kick off the doubleheader at 5 PM with the men to follow at 7; as always, you can watch all the action live and for free on the KCAC Network.