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December 20, 2007 Newberg, OR - Galen Squiers’ two free throws with 6.4 seconds left gave Saint Martin’s a three-point lead and Mark Metzler’s NBA-range three-point attempt to tie at the buzzer bounced off the front of the rim, enabling the visiting Saints to escape with a 72-69 win over George Fox University in a non-conference game Wednesday night at the Wheeler Sports Center’s Miller Gym. After a dunk by Bill Richardson gave the Saints the early 2-0 lead, the Bruins jumped out to take an 11 point lead at 26-15. With just over five minutes left in the half the Saints were still down 30-20 but put together a 13-0 run to take the three point lead over the next three minutes. SMU took a 38-36 lead into halftime. George Fox missed 12of their first 17 shots as the Saints built up a 12 point advantage. The Bruins battled back to pull within one with 1:42 on the clock. Baskets by Tyler Nixon and Jake Linton made in 69-64 Saints with 35 seconds left but GFU’s Evan Atwater sank a three with 18 seconds left. After Squiers made the first of a one-and-one George Fox drove for a layup to make it a one point ball game with seven seconds left. Squiers was fouled on the throw-in and hit both the shots from the line. The Bruins had one last shot with six seconds left; Metzler’s shot was on target but fell just short giving the Saints the win. “In the first half they hit some threes early but we had guys bring some energy off the bench, increasing our defense and taking shooters out of their shots; with that we were able to stay on top,” said Brendan Campbell. Campbell led the Saints with 16 points tallying 1000th career point, becoming the 32nd member of the GNAC 1000-Point Club, the third from SMU. Richardson and Nixon each added 13 points with Richardson pulling down seven boards. Linton had 11 points and two assists. SMU hit 17-21 free throws while the Bruins were 8-12 and never made it to the line in the first half. “This was a good game for us on the road against a good team. Our guys did a real nice job down the stretch of executing, taking care of the ball and making free throw shots,” said head coach Keith Cooper. “We had a lot of good contributions from everybody tonight.” The Saints’ next game will be at home on December 30th as they take on Concordia College of New York in a special 3 p.m. start time.
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