Facing a Central Washington team that beat them by 15 earlier and riding an eight-game losing streak, the Saint Martin Saints were the king of underdogs Thursday.

But by shooting a season-best 59.6 percent, underdogs became wonderdogs as SMU pulled off a shocker with a  99-84 win, pleasing a rowdy Saint crowd in a packed Marcus Pavilion.

“It's funny the things you do when you've got nothing to lose,” said Jeremy Green, who led the Saints with a season-high 34 points, 17 above his season average. “We did all the right things. We shot the ball well. We took care of the ball.”

Shooting 63 percent (17-for-27) in the first half, SMU led 48-41 at halftime and never trailed in the second half.

SMU, which is averaging 67.3 points a game, opened a 79-68 lead on Ryan Votaw's 3-pointer with 6:59 left. And Central, which was coming off an 89-82 win against Western Washington, never got closer than eight points the rest of the way.

The Saints, who are shooting just 44 percent from the field for the season, made a pressing, doubling CWU defense pay with some hot shooting. They were 31-for-52 from the field, 6-for-12 from the 3-point. Central, meanwhile, went 2-for-14 from 3-point and 18-for-35 from the free throw line.

It's the first time in three years, since Green's freshman year, that SMU beat Central.

“I thought our kids offensively played with a lot of poise,” Saints coach Keith Cooper said. “Our kids did a nice job of making the extra pass. It was a good win for our kids. I'm glad they finally got another win. They've never quit all year.”

Four Saints finished in double figures. Besides Green, Roger O'Neill scored 22 points, Brok Pendleton added 16 and Brady Bomber had 12. Saints big three – Green, O'Neill and Pendleton – were a combined 25-for-38, a sizzling 65 percent.

“We wanted this one,” said O'Neill, a junior forward who went 7-for-11 from the field. “I haven't beaten Central since I came here. I think the last time we beat them was my senior year in high school. It feels good.”

Central played without sophomore point guard Lacy Haddock, who scored 26 points in the Wildcats' 76-61 win against SMU in December. Haddock, who was the GNAC's player of the week last week, tore his meniscus in Saturday's win against Western Washington.

“We missed him,” Central coach Greg Sparling said. “He's very valuable to our team. That's like taking Jeremy Green off Saint Martin's roster. You take arguable your best player out of the lineup it's going to throw a monkey wrench into your plans.”

Central, with six players averaging in double figures, isn't a one-man team. But they were out of sync without Haddock.

“They were hurting without Lacy Haddock,” Cooper said. “He's their best player. We caught them when they were down. But it's not like we haven't had some guys injured too.”

SMU's upset special got off to a good start. The Saints sank four of their first five shots and jumped out to an 8-2 lead three minutes into the game. But after CWU tied the score 25-25, the Saints went on a 9-2 run and took a 34-27 lead on O'Neill's 3-pointer with 4:39 left in the half. SMU led by seven at halftime.

“You beat Central even though they're missing a good player, it's still a quality win for our kids,” Cooper said.

Kevin Davis, a 6-9 sophomore forward, led Central with 27 points. The pogo-stick forward had five alley-oop dunks in the first half.

It was the perfect storm for the Saints. Besides SMU's red-hot shooting, Central missed 17 free throws and 12 3-pointers.

“What hurt us was our free throws,” Sparling said. “We missed the front end of a lot of one-and-ones. When the game was within striking distance, we came up empty. We missed too many free throws.”

In contrast, SMU made its free throws, going 31-for-39. Coupled with good shooting, the Saints had 21 assists and just 13 turnovers.

“This was a fun game to play in,” Green said. “After all this team went through this feels good.”

SMU, which is now 9-17 overall and 5-12 in GNAC, plays its final game of the season Saturday at home against Northwest Nazarene, which lost at Western Oregon 66-57.

Central and NW Nazarene are fighting for the sixth and last playoff spot for next week's GNAC championship at Saint Martin's that starts Wednesday.
Central still has a one-game lead over NW Nazarene.

Sparling is a Saint fan going into their last game.

“I hope Jeremy Green plays like he did tonight on Saturday,” Sparling said. “Saint Martin's seniors stepped it up against us. They made some big shots.”