Augustas Marciulionis grew up a son of hoops royalty. The Saint Mary’s star is carving his own path

CLEVELAND (AP) — Randy Bennett first met Augustas Marciulionis more than two decades ago when the Saint Mary’s coach was visiting Lithuania to do a basketball clinic for Marciulionis’ father, former NBA star and future Hall of Famer Sarunas.

Sarunas may or may not have been paying much attention to the local traffic laws. Augustus — all of 1-year-old at the time — may or may not have been “buzzing” around between the driver’s side and the passenger side without a car seat to be found.

“I was like, ‘This is crazy,’” Bennett said with a small shake of his head. “(Augustus) doesn’t even have a seatbelt on and (his dad is) whipping around these streets.”

It was, in a way, a sign of things to come.

Nearly 20 years later, the toddler with the zoomies had grown into a talented 6-foot-4 freshman point guard for Bennett. And while Marciulionis had gained an appreciation for the importance of proper automobile safety by the time he arrived on the small Saint Mary’s campus about 20 minutes east of Oakland, there was still a recklessness about him that caught Bennett by surprise.

Bennett assumed because Augustus was the son of the first Lithuanian player to reach the NBA — Sarunas spent the majority of his seven seasons in the league with the Golden State Warriors in the early 1990s as a smooth-shooting, slick passing swingman credited with introducing the Eurostep to the States — that Augustas would be close to a finished product.

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Instead, what Bennett got was 195 pounds of raw material oozing with potential but decidedly naive on what it takes to play in this part of the world.

“You’d think because he’s a Marciulionis that it’s automatic, ‘Hey, this guy is a pro,’” Bennett said. “It wasn’t like that. He had to learn how to bring it every night.”

It took two full years for Marciulionis to regularly crack the starting lineup. Yet those early growing pains set the foundation for a young man in full.

When Marciulionis steps onto the Rocket Arena floor on Sunday night for the seventh-seeded Gaels (29-5) as they face second-seeded Alabama (26-8) in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, he’ll do it as a two-time West Coast Conference Player of the Year whose trajectory may eclipse that of former Saint Mary’s stars turned NBA fixtures Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavedova.

“We’ve had a lot of good point guards,” Bennett said. “He’s at the top.”

The player known to his teammates as “Goose” credits his father for “keeping my head where it’s supposed to be.” Yes, Sarunas is basketball royalty back home, though Augustas just laughs when asked if he is in some small way Lithuania’s version of Bronny James, the son of NBA icon LeBron.

“No,” Augustas said. “No, no. It’s not that.”

For one thing, Augustas could probably take his dad in one-on-one if it ever came to that. Then again, Augustus points out that Sarunas is 60 and “couldn’t jump over a newspaper” thanks to knees that are no longer interested in running up and down the court.

Still, there are echoes of Sarunas in his son’s game. You can see it in the fluidity of his movement and the way he thinks a step or two ahead.

While Bennett credits Marciulionis for finding a way to take another step forward this season as a player — he posted career bests in points (14.3) and assists (6.0) while leading the Gaels to the WCC regular-season title — it’s what he’s done off the floor that has perhaps been more impressive.

The 18-year-old who arrived at Saint Mary’s largely sight unseen — unless you count the Zoom call he had with Bennett during the COVID-19 pandemic in which Bennett zipped around on a golf cart trying to explain Northern California to someone who’d never been there — with marginal English skills has become a 22-year-old comfortable in his own skin and with his second language.

“He’s grown,” Bennett said. “He’s grown as a person. He’s grown as a leader. But being over here, being in the same program, being here four years, he’s kind of taken on more and more responsibility and become a better and better player.”

One who would love to finish his college career by helping the Gaels reach the Sweet 16 for just the third time in program history.

Saint Mary’s has found a way to match and in some ways surpass rival and longtime WCC power Gonzaga during Marciulionis’ tenure. The Gaels have won each of the last three WCC regular-season titles. What they haven’t done is replicate the Bulldogs’ success in March.

Marciulionis and the rest of Saint Mary’s senior-laden roster understand the stakes.

“We want to leave it better for the future so people will take Saint Mary’s (more serious) nationally and pay more attention so they can recruit better players (and) get more money,” he said. “We can impact that by winning a game or two more.”

To do it Marciulionis will have to hold his own against Alabama All-American Mark Sears, who like Marciulionis has designs on playing in the NBA next year. It will be a daunting task, then again, so is growing up knowing your dad is a national hero and deciding to follow in his footsteps anyway.

“He’s a little under the radar, but what he’s done the last two years has been impressive,” Bennett said. “He’s a good player. He’s really good on both sides of the ball. He’s a good defender. He’s got a nice little gap to improve still.”

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