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January 3, 2008 Lacey, WA – Saint Martin’s was able to withstand a late rally by the University of Alaska Fairbanks to pick up the 90-86 victory in overtime in their Great Northwest Athletic Conference opener Thursday night at the SMU Pavilion. The Saints were led by Jake Linton who posted 31 points, including a perfect 18-18 from the line, one shy of a GNAC single game record for most free throws made. Saint Martin’s held a nine point lead at the break and increased it to as much as 15 with nine minutes left. They maintained a six point advantage with 30 seconds to play in regulation but UAF got two three-pointers, one from Bobby Pico with 16 seconds left and one from Kevin Atkins with five seconds, to force overtime. The Saints got off just one field goal in the extra period but went to the line 16 times hitting 14 shots and picking up the win. “It’s a good start to conference but we need to improve,” said Linton. “Every game from here on out is going to be tough; we need to learn from our mistakes, build on them and make ourselves better.” The Saints took full advantage at the line hitting 38 of 50 while Fairbanks made just 15 of 27 free throws. “We battled back and were able to hang on because we executed our plays and made our free throws down the stretch,” said Campbell. Campbell added 17 points for the Saints while Bill Richardson had 10 points and eight rebounds. Tyler Nixon had three of the Saints’ seven blocked shots on the night. “This was a tough win against a very scrappy team. They made some good shots when we missed some critical ones,” said head coach Keith Cooper. “Our guys did a good job refocusing, taking care of the ball and making free throws down the stretch. We came out with the win and hopefully learned some very valuable lessons at the same time.” The Saints play again this Saturday against the University of Alaska Anchorage in the second game of a double header at the SMU Pavilion.
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