MORAGA, Calif. -- Saint Mary's coach Randy Bennett lit into his team at halftime after a rather lackluster first 20 minutes Thursday night.

"They usually respond when you challenge them a little bit," Bennett said.

The 19th-ranked Gaels replied by taking over the game early in the second half on their way to a 74-47 victory over South Carolina State on Thursday. It was the final nonconference game for Saint Mary's.

South Carolina State hung with the Gaels through the first half and trailed 33-26 with 17:24 left in the game. However, back-to-back 3-pointers by Emmett Naar pushed the margin to 13 points, and the Bulldogs were unable to recover.

The Gaels (10-1) quickly increased the lead to 28 points with 9:57 left and coasted home.

"We just weren't playing hard enough or playing as a team in the first half," said Gaels center Jock Landale, who scored 20 points and collected 11 rebounds in just 26 minutes of court time. "We know it is going to get a lot harder in conference."

One thing Saint Mary's is likely to see when West Coast Conference play begins is zone defenses.

For the third consecutive game, an opponent threw a zone at the Gaels for a period of time and effectively disrupted their offense.

The Gaels took control of the game when they scored 10 straight points to give them a 21-7 lead with 12:28 left in the first half. That prompted a timeout by South Carolina State, which switched to a zone defense.

That stymied Saint Mary's, which went six minutes without scoring. The Bulldogs scored 10 consecutive points in the meantime to reduce the deficit to four points with 6:47 remaining in the half.

South Carolina coach Murray Garvin said his team doesn't play much zone but figured he would give it a shot.

"It kind of stifled them for a while, kind of threw them off," he said. "The other night they didn't shoot too well, and I was hoping that would last two games, but it was just a game and a half."

The Gaels, who led by eight points at halftime, finally found their rhythm in the second half and pulled away. Tanner Krebs finished with 11 points for Saint Mary's, and Calvin Hermanson added 10 points and six boards.

"That's one of the best offensive teams we've seen all year, bar none, and we've played a who's who," said Garvin, whose team has faced Wichita State, Syracuse, South Carolina, Miami, Texas A&M and Clemson, all on the road. "I'm glad that part of the schedule is over.

South Carolina State (3-9) was led by Eric Eaves, who had 11 points. However, he averaged 20 points over the previous three games, against Texas A&M, Clemson and Furman.

The most impressive statistic for Saint Mary's was the rebounding, as Gaels pounded South Carolina State on the boards 42-16.

Garvin was impressed with the Gaels' defense, which held his team below 25 points in each half.

"You think they are not an athletic team, but they play great team defense," Garvin said.

Less impressive for Saint Mary's were the turnover numbers. The Gaels entered the game ranked fourth in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.79 per game. But the Gaels had just eight assists and 13 giveaways against the Bulldogs, two days after committing 13 turnovers against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

"I don't know what the deal is," Bennett said, "but we've been turning the ball over more than last year and more than we usually do."

NOTES: The Gaels begin West Coast Conference competition when they play at Loyola Marymount on Dec. 29. ... The 47 points South Carolina State scored Thursday were one more point than Texas A&M-Corpus Christi scored against Saint Mary's on Tuesday. ... In its previous game, South Carolina State recorded its first win of the season against a Division I opponent when it beat Furman 69-67 last Friday.