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January 20, 2007 Lacey, WA – Saint Martin’s battled back from a ten point deficit late in the second half to defeat the University of Alaska Fairbanks 89-84, running their win streak to seven and remaining unbeaten in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Saturday night at the SMU Pavilion. The Nanooks had the early lead, up by nine with 6:48 left in the first half. They were able to fend off the Saints and take an eight point lead into the break. Seven minutes into the second half Fairbanks built their lead to 13. The Saints then scored 18 of the next 29 points to pull within two. With 4:15 left to play Stephon Harris hit a jumper to tie the game 75-75 and sank the free throw to give the Saints the one point advantage 76-75. Saint Martin’s went up by six but UAF’s Mike Titus hit a layin and free throw to put the Nanooks within three. With eight seconds left Jake Linton was fouled and hit both shots from the line to give the Saints a five point advantage and the win. “I don’t think we played the first half with the energy we needed but we did a good job in the second half and were still within striking distance,” said head coach Keith Cooper. “Justin (Alexander) hit some big shots that kept us close in the first half. In the second half Joe (Chirhart) and Tyler (Nixon) came in and gave us the energy we needed. Trevor (Dunstan) had three huge plays in the last two minutes. He drew a charge and got offensive and defensive rebounds. Those were critical plays. Stephon gave us a real offensive lift all night. He was the third scorer that we needed along with Brendan (Campbell) and Jake.” Linton racked up a double-double on the night with a game high 25 points and 10 assists. Harris added 18 points while Brendan Campbell posted 17 points and led the Saints with seven boards. Kenny Barker had 24 points for the Nanooks and Mike Titus had 21. Jushay Rockett added 19 points and seven rebounds. “It feels really good to pick up another win,” said Linton. “It’s good to get a spark from the bench like we did tonight. Joe and Justin did really well coming in tonight.” The Saints were out-rebounded 35 to 21 but only committed seven turnovers while forcing Fairbanks to 19. “Another comeback, it’s exciting,” said Harris. “It feels wonderful to have everybody come out and support us like they did tonight. We are a very good team; we have to continue to play hard and play the way we know we can.” The Saints are now 5-0 in conference play and 8-8 on the season. Fairbanks falls to 2-3 in the GNAC and 11-8 on the year. “You have to give Fairbanks a lot of credit. They battled hard for 40 minutes with eight kids. Frank (Ostanik) did a good job of getting those kids to play hard; they really competed.” “Jake played really well tonight and Stephon led us in the second half both defensively and emotionally; he just pulled us through,” said Brendan Campbell. “We got a lot of good bench production. Justin hit some big shots in the first half; Joe and Tyler came up big in the second half. With five minutes left to go we battled through. If a team is going to leave us in the game we can pull through; we have enough mental toughness.” The Saints head to Seattle next Thursday to take on the Seattle Pacific Falcons who are 4-2 in conference so far this season.
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