Men’s Basketball: Saints earn all-conference honors

March 18, 2008

Spokane, WA – Saint Martin’s point guard Jake Linton was selected to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference first-team all-star team while Blake Poole was named GNAC Freshman-of-the-Year and Brendan Campbell received honorable mention.

Linton, a junior from Lynnwood, WA, finished the season as the national leader in free throw percentage at 96.4 percent converting on 162 of 168 attempts. He led the GNAC in scoring averaging 19 points per game.

Linton also led the Saints in multiple offensive categories including three-point percentage, assists and steals.

“Jake was a first team all conference guy last year and backed it up again this year. He is certainly one of the top players in the league and few players do more for their team than Jake does for us,” said head coach Keith Cooper. “It is a great honor, but certainly a well deserved one.”

Poole, a product of Eugene, OR, averaged 6.9 points and 4.5 rebounds, third on the team, for the Saints. He also ranked second for SMU in field goal percentage, converting 53.5 percent.

Poole shares the honor with Dane Johnson of Western Oregon.

“Blake is our first Freshman-of-the-Year and it is a well deserved honor also. Per minute played Blake was very effective and I think everyone sees the bright future he will have in this league for the next three years,” said Cooper. “This year he played behind and learned from Brendan and at times Bill Richardson. There is no doubt Brendan will leave big shoes to fill, but I think Blake is the guy to fill them and fill them well.”

Campbell, the Saints lone senior out of Bremerton, WA, was 16th in the GNAC in scoring averaging 12.9 points per game. He also led the Saints in rebounding with 6.3 per game, 11th in the conference.

“I am pleased to see Brendan’s hard work and efforts not go unnoticed by the other coaches in our league. With so many good players throughout the conference it is tough to make our all league teams,” said Cooper. “Brendan has had a great 4 years here; he’s a 3 year starter, 2 time team captain, and top ten in scoring all time at SMU. He has been a rock for our program the past four years.”