MORAGA, Calif. -- No. 21 Saint Mary's still has a West Coast Conference championship on its mind, and the Gaels know they have to win every game as they chase Gonzaga.

The Gaels got a challenge from Bay Area rival San Francisco on Thursday at McKeon Pavilion, but a 14-0 run early in the second half pushed Saint Mary's to a 66-46 victory.

It kept the Gaels (18-2, 8-1 WCC) within striking distance of unbeaten No. 3 Gonzaga, with the Bulldogs scheduled to come to Moraga on Feb. 11.

"It's a challenge staying locked in one week at a time, one game at a time," Gaels coach Randy Bennett said, "and our guys are doing a pretty good job."

The Gaels swept the regular-season series against San Francisco, continuing their domination of the Dons, who had a three-game winning streak halted.

Saint Mary's has won six straight games against the Dons and 23 of the past 24 meetings. The Dons have lost 14 straight games on the Gaels' home court.

Emmett Naar and Calvin Hermanson scored 18 points apiece to lead the Gaels this time. Twenty-two of their points came in the second half, when Saint Mary's limited the Dons (14-8, 4-5) to 16 points on 29.2 percent shooting, including 0 of 8 on 3-pointers.

The Gaels broke away from a 34-34 tie early in the second half by scoring 14 straight points in a span of 2:14.

Naar's 3-pointer in transition provided Saint Mary's with a 42-34 lead, and Naar added two free throws with no additional time coming off the clock when San Francisco coach Kyle Smith was hit with a technical foul.

"Matt (McCarthy, San Francisco's center) got fouled and we didn't get the call, and they got a transition basket out of it," said Smith, explaining the anger that evoked the technical foul. "I really didn't think I would get one. I was out of the (coaching) box, trying to call a timeout.

"You can't give them any freebies."

Dane Pineau made it a 12-0 Saint Mary's run with an uncontested inside basket, and Hermanson completed the 14-0 run with a layup that put Saint Mary's ahead 48-34 with 13:34 remaining.

What had been a close game turned into a rout in an instant.

"The first 25 minutes were pretty good," Smith said. "But they were greedy on defense. It was tough to get a good look."

The lead grew to 60-40 when Hermanson hit a 3-pointer with 9:05 left.

"Just a lot of energy on defense," Hermanson said of the second-half surge, "and we got out and ran in transition."

Bennett also emphasized his team's defensive effort after allowing the Dons to shoot 52 percent from the field in the first half.

"Both halves we played pretty well offensively, but we defended better in the second half," he said. "We played really well in the second half defensively to break away."

Charles Minlend scored 13 points to lead the Dons, who stayed in the game through the first half.

San Francisco's Jordan Ratinho hit a 3-point shot at the first-half buzzer to tie the score 30-30 at the break.

The Dons led for much of the first half, and they held a seven-point advantage when Minlend scored with 6:49 left before halftime. Saint Mary's then scored eight straight points in a span of 1:03 to grab a 27-25 lead.

San Francisco guard Ronnie Boyce scored to tie the game before Hermanson made a 3-pointer with 13 seconds left to put the Gaels ahead 30-27.

Ratinho, who led the Dons in the first half with eight points, then hit his last-second shot to tie it.

NOTES: The Australian national anthem was played before the game in honor of Australia Day. Seven Saint Mary's players and one San Francisco player are from Australia. The anthem lasted a long time because two verses were performed. Saint Mary's G Emmett Naar, an Australian, apologized for its length. ... Saint Mary's beat San Francisco 63-52 on Jan. 7 in the teams' first meeting this season in San Francisco. ... San Francisco head coach Kyle Smith was an assistant at Saint Mary's under Randy Bennett for nine years.