Rory Hawke shuffled to his right, received a pass from Dillan Shaw and drained a 27-foot 3-pointer from the top of the key to give Saint Mary’s the lead once and for all with 3 seconds left in a dramatic 78-73 win at Loyola Marymount on Sunday to open WCC play.

The teams traded leads nine times, tied the score at 15 other instances and were never separated by more than seven points. The go-ahead 3-pointer was only Hawke’s second basket of the game. The assist was Shaw’s fourth of the night to go with a team-high 18 points to lead the Gaels (12-2, 1-0).

Paulius Murauskas scored 13 points and grabbed a team-best nine rebounds before fouling out with 2:25 to play.

Elijah Mahi led Santa Clara’s best offensive effort of the season with 23 points as the Broncos began WCC with a bang in a 102-64 win at Oregon State.

Mahi, a senior forward, shot 5-for-7 from beyond the 3-point line to lead six scorers in double figures as the Broncos (10-4, 1-0) reached triple digits for the first time this season. Their previous season-high in scoring came in a 98-83 win against Nevada on Nov. 15.

Santa Clara raced out to 53-20 lead by halftime, and Mahi poured in 15 after intermission as the lead widened as large as 40. Thierry Darlan, the former G League player, scored nine of a season-high 14 points in the first half.

As a team, they shot 63.6% (35-55) from the field, their best success rate since 2017.

Women’s basketball

Nunu Agara led four scorers in double figures with 19 points, Lara Somfai grabbed 18 rebounds and the Stanford women cruised to an 82-50 win over Cornell on Sunday.

Courtney Ogden added 15 points, five rebounds and four assists, and the Cardinal (12-2) got 12 points off the bench from Shay Ijiwoye to finish the nonconference schedule.

Lulu Twidale scored 19 points and dished out six assists as the Cal women pulled away after halftime for a 91-50 win over Cal Poly.

Naya Ojukwu added 16 points off the bench for the Golden Bears (9-5), who only led 34-22 at the half before going on to a 41-point win in their final non-conference game.

Stanford and Cal will travel cross-country to open ACC play this week at No. 16 North Carolina and NC State.

Kate Schat scored a game-high 14 points off the bench and the Santa Clara women used a dominant second quarter to pull away from San Diego for a 68-46 win to open WCC play.

The Broncos (11-3, 1-0) shot just 30% from the field, but they limited the Toreros (6-8, 0-1) to an even worse clip — 27% — and four points for the entire second quarter.

From the end of the first quarter to the 9:16 mark of the third, USD converted one shot from the field as Santa Clara turned a 13-10 advantage after one period into a 34-14 lead.

Grand Canyon had won only one game all season entering Sunday but had no trouble in a 79-59 triumph over the San Jose State women.

Maya Anderson led the Spartans (2-11, 0-2) with 16 points, and Allie Cummins added 14, but they were no match for the Lopes’ Julianna LaMendola, whose 25 points and 10 rebounds were both game-highs.