Saints crash out of tourney after defeat against Alaska Anchorage, misses out of NCAA Div2 regionals

The Saint Martin's University men’s basketball team ended their season Thursday as they bowed out of the GNAC men’s basketball championship after losing to lower seed Alaska Anchorage, 81-76, in the quarterfinals at the Nicholson Pavilion in the Central Washington University in Ellensburg, while subsequently throwing away their chance for NCAA glory later in the tournament.

After a stellar start to this winter season’s basketball tournament, where they were voted #1 in a national power ranking poll for the first time in Week 9 , the Saints suffered dips in form after a string of defeats in the middle until the end of the season, which included two losses from Alaska Anchorage.

Despite this, they ended up being the #3 seed in the Great Northwest and had the chance to compete for the GNAC trophy for an automatic qualification to the NCAA West championships.

Unfortunately, the Saints still can’t figure out the 6^th seed UAA in the first round and suffered another beatdown as they were outperformed in the three-point line, with the Seawolves scoring 13 three-pointers, which is one shy from their GNAC championship record, to knock Lacey’s representatives out of the competition.

Rubbing salt to the wounds was their failure to get an at-large bid for the NCAA Div2 as only three squads were later chosen to represent the Great Northwest in the West region championships – the regular season’s #1 seed Montana Billings, the eventual GNAC champions Central Washington University, and eventual GNAC runner-up Alaska Anchorage.

First-team all-conference senior guard Kyle Greeley led the scoring for the Saints with 23 points in 10 out of 15 field goals made, while juniors Jayshawn Moore (13 points), Kaden Hansen (11 points) and Myles Samuels (10 points) all reached double figures coming off the bench.

The absence of SMU’s reliable 6-foot-8 center Shakeem Alcindor, who was unavailable due to a shoulder injury, was felt as the Saints were outrebounded 34 to 30, which was crucial to their strategy, despite still having more points on the paint (Saints 32, UAA 18). Alcindor averaged 8.4 points and 4.4 rebounds in 15.1 minutes per game this season.

But what decided the game was the sharpshooting three-pointers by the Seawolves as they outscored the Saints beyond the arc 13-9, with the 13 three-pointers by UAA being the most allowed by the Saints this season.

Down 12-6 early in the first half, Myles Samuels made an immediate impact from the substitute’s bench as he made seven quickfire points to lead the Saints in an early 14-0 run to turn the tide, 20-12 at ten minutes remaining, before UAA responded to a run of their own to regain the lead, while sustaining the run to clinch a 37-30 lead at the half.

The Saints strived to keep the match tight early in the second half as they tied the game to 40-all in the first three minutes before the consecutive threes made by Dathan Satchell and Sawyer Storms of UAA swung the momentum to the Seawolves as they regained the lead, which ballooned up to 12 at 66-54 with seven minutes left.

SMU propelled a spirited comeback right at the final minutes, as they attempted to capitalize on the Seawolves missing their three-pointers. Still, it was too late as they only cut down the lead to as low as four at eight seconds left in the game before free throws sealed the final score to confirm the end of the men’s basketball season for the Saints.

Despite the loss, there are things that the Saints should be proud of. Apart from the first-ever #1 polling stated earlier, the Saints had their third straight 20-win season, a 10-0 non-conference record, four wins against current regionally ranked opponents, and a send-off to six talented and decorated seniors.

SMU men’s basketball team coach Aaron Landon.