Juzenas, Saint Mary’s defeat Illinois State 90-85 in OT

MORAGA, Calif. (AP) — Mantas Juzenas scored 20 points, five in the overtime, and Saint Mary’s beat Illinois State 90-85 in a season opener on Monday.

Juzenas added 11 rebounds for the Gaels. Thomas Ndong added 18 points while shooting 7 of 9 from the field and 3 for 4 from the line while they also had six rebounds. Evangelos Zougris shot 7 of 7 from the field and 2 of 4 from the free-throw line to finish with 16 points.

Johnny Kinziger finished with 30 points and four assists for the Redbirds. Malik Moore added 16 points, four assists and two steals for Illinois State. Mason Klabo also had 12 points.

Ndong scored nine points in the first half and Saint Mary’s went into halftime trailing 39-33. Zougris scored the final six points for Saint Mary’s to close out the five-point victory.

Saint Mary’s next game is Wednesday against North Dakota State at home, and Illinois State hosts Central State (OH) on Thursday.

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.