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February 9, 2007 Lacey, WA – Saint Martin’s men’s basketball regained possession of first place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference with a win over Western Washington 67-64 Thursday night at the SMU Pavilion. “This was a good win; we struggled at times and still found a way to win. To beat an elite program like Western is big for our guys,” said head coach Keith Cooper. “We want to be that kind of program. To be elite you have to beat elite programs.” The Saints got up early in the first half. They led by as much as 12 before Western went on a 22-5 run to take a five point lead with two minutes left in the half. With under a minute to go Trevor Dunstan hit two free throws and Jake Linton sank a three to tie the game 33-33 at the break. The game was tied a total of six times in the second half. With 10 seconds left Linton hit two free throws to give the Saints a three point lead. In an attempt to tie the game Ira Graham shot a pull-up jumper but the shot was only good for two. With three seconds left Greg O’Neal was fouled and hit both of his free throws to again put the Saints up by three. The Vikings made an attempt to throw the ball down court and get off one last shot but it was stolen by Justin Alexander, ensuring the win for the Saints. Linton posted his third double-double of the season with 23 points and 10 assists. Brendan Campbell pulled down 12 boards on the night. “This was a good win for us; it gave us a boost,” said Linton. “People stepped up when they needed to tonight. Michael (McIver) and Justin (Alexander) came up big. That makes it that much easier on everyone else.” Graham led the Vikings with 20 points on the night while Lukas Henne posted a double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds. “To beat Western is a big milestone for the program,” said Campbell. “We played aggressive hard-nosed defense tonight. We didn’t take care of the ball as much as we needed to but we were able to pull through at the end.” The victory over Western was the first for Saint Martin’s in the last 12 meetings between the two teams. “The first half Brendan and Greg were in foul trouble, we had to go deep into the bench and some guys had to play out of position. The guys responded well. The second half we were very focused on offense, we didn’t shoot the ball well but we didn’t give up any turnovers. We were able to get some key rebounds when we needed them,” added Cooper. “Trevor had a good second half and had some huge rebounds. Justin hit some huge shots for us in the first half and was a big part of getting us back into the game. The sign of a good team is to be able to win when you don’t shoot the ball well not just when you do shoot the ball well.” The Saints’ are home again this Saturday as they take on Central Washington University in a 7pm tip-off.
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