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St. Mary's buries Pepperdine with 3-point barrage

Feb 19, 2008 - 4:59 AM MALIBU, California (Ticker) -- Pepperdine never stood a chance against the torrid outside shooting of St. Mary's.

Patrick Mills led a balanced attack with 18 points and the 20th-ranked Gaels hit a school-record 17 3-pointers en route to a 100-64 rout of Pepperdine in the West Coast Conference on Monday.

Todd Golden and Ian O'Leary added 15 points apiece to lead St. Mary's (23-3, 10-1 WCC) to its sixth consecutive victory and 11th in the last 12 games.

Carlin Hughes and Golden each hit four 3-pointers as the Gaels hit 17-of-29 from the arc and shot 59 percent (34-of-58) overall. It was the first time St. Mary's reached 100 points this season.

The Gaels, who struggled to be the Waves, 79-74, at home earlier in the season, quickly removed any suspense in this one.

Raining 10 3-pointers down on Pepperdine (9-18, 3-8) in the opening 20 minutes, St. Mary's bolted to a 53-23 halftime lead.

The Gaels hit four shots from the arc in an early 19-2 run to take a 21-6 lead. After the Waves cut it to 21-13, Hughes came off the bench and drilled three 3-pointers to spark a 15-2 spurt that built the cushion to 36-15 with 6:00 left in the half.

Hughes, Golden and Diamon Simpson all connected from the arc in the final 3:11 as St. Mary's finished 10-of-16 from long range in the half.

Pepperdine, meanwhile, missed all eight of its 3-point attempts in the first half while shooting 9-of-37 (24 percent) from the floor in having its modest two-game winning streak snapped.

Ryan Holmes and Mychel Thompson scored 14 points apiece to lead the Waves.