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December 16. 2006 Lacey, WA – Saint Martin’s had three players with 20 or more points in their way to a victory over Warner Pacific 93-84 Saturday night at the SMU Pavilion. Stephon Harris, Jake Linton and Brendan Campbell combined for 66 points for the Saints. Harris had a game high 24 points, while Linton posted 22 and Campbell added 20. Harris and Campbell both earned the double-doubles with 10 rebounds on the night. Linton and Harris were each credited with five steals. “We’ve been in a lot of close games. We’ve been playing well but we just haven’t been able to put it together at the end. Tonight we finally did. We played well,” said Campbell. Warner Pacific, who was 10-1 coming into the game, had four players in double figures. Jalonta Martin led the Knights with 20 points, Scott O’Gallagher had 18 while Josh Jackson and Keegan Cook posted 15 and 10 respectively. With 14:38 left in the first half the Saints took the lead but the Knights kept it close pulling to within one. SMU turned it on and was able to extend their lead to 13 with just over a minute to go and went into the break up by ten, 46-36. Warner Pacific came roaring back to open up the second with a 13-2 run to take the lead by one. That was the only time the Knights would be on top in the half as the Saints battled and built their lead back up to as much as 14. The Saints put up seven points from the line in the last minute to seal the victory. “After a long losing streak it feels good to get a win,” said Harris. “We shot the ball great. We played how we are supposed to play; no mental lapses. They went on a run to start off the second half and we stopped them. That shows the true character of our team.” One big difference in the game came from the line. Saint Martin’s went 30-for-33 from the line; Warner Pacific was only 10-for-18. “It was a good win over a good team. We’ve been waiting for that. I’m real pleased with the poise we showed especially in the second half. The guys went out there and responded to adversity,” said head coach Keith Cooper. “Our kids really stepped up. I’m please with our execution. We didn’t make every shot we took but we got the shots we wanted. I think that’s a credit to our leadership, especially at the point guard position. It was a very good team effort. Like I keep telling them, no one has to do a lot if everybody does a little. Trevor (Dunstan) played great in the first half and Matt (Hargrave) played well in the second. Jake did a great job handling the ball and Joe (Chirhart) came in and made some big free throws at the end. Everybody contributed in a positive way; that’s what we have to do.” The Saints will take on George Fox this Wednesday at the SMU Pavilion in their last game before the start of conference play.
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