SEATTLE, Wash. - The Saints nearly the started the 2017-18 campaign off with an upset victory over the University of Washington, 91-87, behind a 32-point performance from Luke Chavez and 22-points by EJ Boyce.

In an exhibition for both teams, the Saints relied heavily on the 3-pointer in the early goings of the game. SMU's first four made baskets all came from beyond the arc. Boyce started the scoring off, followed by a triple by Rhett Baerlocher, then back-to-back baskets for Chavez, to give SMU a 12-5 lead and a Washington timeout at the 17:11 mark. After a jumper for the Huskies, the Saints responded with a dunk from Tavian Henderson from Matt Dahlen to put the score at 14-7. Chavez connected on another 3-pointer and a free throw by Baerlocher, extended the Saints lead to 18-7 with 14:22 left in the first half.

The Huskies responded with two jumpers by David Crisp and a fastbreak dunk from Matisse Thybulle to trim the lead to 18-13. Boyce answered back with a 3-pointer to push the lead back to eight at 21-13 with 12:01 remaining in the half. The Huskies proceeded to shave the lead to one point over the next two minutes , before SMU responded with a layup from Henderson and a deep ball by Boyce to give SMU a 26-20 lead at 8:56.

Washington tied the game at 27-27 before taking their first lead at 30-29 on a free throw since the 3-0 mark to open the game. The Huskies lead grew to as many as six in the closing moments of the half before taking a 46-40 lead into the locker room.

Washington opened the second half with a 3-pointer to give them their largest lead of the game at 49-40. Boyce and Chavez picked up where they left off in the first half, both hitting from deep in the opening moments of the second half. After an and-one from Cameron Chatwin, BJ Standley connected with a shot from deep on a fastbreak to trim Washington's lead to 53-52. 

After a bucket by Nahziah Carter in the paint, Chavez tied the game at 55-55 with a 3-pointer with 14:39 left in the second half. A minute later, Standley drilled a 3-pointer, despite being fouled, and converted the free throw to give SMU the lead at 59-55. After triples by Jordan Kitchen, Boyce and Kazuma Lane, the Saints gained their largest lead of the second half at 73-64 with 9:17 left in the game. 

A short 6-0 run put the Huskies back to within striking range at 73-70 before two free throws by Standley and a jumper by Chavez extended the lead back to five with 6:24 remaining. Washington tied the game at 79-79 on a jumper by Noah Dickerson before Chavez responded with three to put SMU up 82-79 with 4:13 left. A 7-2 run for the Huskies proved to be the turning point in the game, as Washington held on for a 91-87 win.

"I'm very proud of the effort our guys showed tonight," said head coach Alex Pribble. "Washington is a talented, well coached team, so we knew it was going to be a battle. We came in here and played them tough for 40 minutes. We were well prepared and forced them out of their 2-3 zone early in the game, which is hard to do. Our guys shared the ball very well; they were very unselfish. This game showed our potential. We got great contributions from Luke (Chavez) and EJ (Boyce) in terms of scoring, but Tavian Henderson and BJ Standley contributed huge minutes for us tonight. Our bigs got in some foul trouble early, so other players stepped up and played hard."

Leading the way was Luke Chavez, who led the entire game with 32 points, along with five assists. EJ Boyce added 22 points on 7-for-12 shooting from deep. Standley provided 11 points off the bench while Baerlocher and Henderson combined for 15 points.

The Saints shot 28-for-61 (45.9 percent) from the floor and an impressive 18-for-34 (52.9 percent) from beyond the arc. The Saints struggled at the line, going 13-for-2 (61.9 percent). SMU scored 12 points in the paint and converted 13 points off of 10 Huskies' turnovers.

Saint Martin's travels to Pullman, Wash. for an exhibition against Pac-12 opponent Washington State on Sunday, Nov 5 at 1:00 p.m.