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January 18, 2007 Lacey, WA – Brendan Campbell and Jake Linton posted a game high 24 points each to help the Saints defeat 25th ranked University of Alaska Anchorage 76-74 Thursday night at the SMU Pavilion. “That was a darn good, talented team we just beat,” said head coach Keith Cooper. “This was a quality win for us. UAA is traditionally one of the better teams in the conference. They have good players and great coaching.” The Seawolves were able to pull away in the first half going up by as much as 12 with 5:08 left to go. The Saints fought their way back and with 4 seconds on the clock Brendan Campbell hit a three to give Saint Martin’s a 40-37 lead going into the half. The Saints quickly built their lead to nine only to see Anchorage come back and take a one point lead with seven and a half minutes on the clock. SMU regained the lead on a layup by Joe Chirhart and were able to maintain it. With 47 seconds to play UAA’s Carl Arts hit two free throws to put the Seawolves down by two and within striking distance. Anchorage missed a last chance three at the buzzer to give the Saints the win. Saint Martin’s shot 87 percent from the line and out-shot UAA 53.3 percent to 41.7 percent on three-point field goals. The Saints committed a season low eight turnovers, only four unforced, and forced the Seawolves to 18. “Anchorage is a good team; they have a lot of good players. We got 40 minutes of defense and 40 minutes of offense tonight,” said Campbell. “It feels good to be playing the way we are.” Campbell went 11-17 from the field and pulled down six boards. Linton 6-7 from the three and had six assists on the night. Joe Davis led the Seawolves with 23 points. McCade Olsen added 14 while Eric Draper had 11. “It feels great to get the win; this is a lot of fun,” said Linton. “This win gives us a lot of confidence. This conference is tough and all of our games are going to be tough. It’s nice to come out on top in these close ones.” “The quality of minutes that we got from the bench tonight was critical to having our starters in at the end. UAA shot well in the first half and seemed to get tired at the end. Our guys were fresh at the end thanks to the bench. Jake does a great job down the stretch closing games but he can’t do that without Joe coming in off the bench. Matt (Hargrave), Michael (McIver), Justin (Alexander), Tyler (Nixon) and Joe all did a great job. We don’t have to worry about losing the lead when they go in,” added Cooper. “A critical piece of our success was taking care of the basketball. We defended well and took care of the basketball which gave us a chance to win at the end.” The Saints play again at home on the 20th against the University of Alaska Fairbanks in a 7 p.m. game at the SMU Pavilion.
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