LACEY, Wash. - Saint Martin's University hit the century mark for the third time in 2016-17 campaign as the Saints shot 66.0 percent in the 102-78 victory over Simon Fraser University.

SMU (16-11, 10-9 GNAC) connected on a season-high 66 percent of shots from the floor while knocking down 13-21 (.619) 3-pointers and 23-28 (.821) at the charity stripe. The Clan (3-24, 1-18) failed to lead at any point in the game.

The Saints gained immediate control the game, starting off with a 10-0 run highlighted by Rhett Baerlocher's two baskets from deep. Tyler Copp added to the Saints' spark with a 3-pointer of his own and pushed the lead to 20-6 on a layup with 14:26 left in the half.

The Clan responded quickly with a 11-3 run, capped off by a 3-pointer from Graham Miller, dwindling the lead to 23-17 with 10:52 remaining the first half.
SMU answered back with Fred Jorg and Cole Preston hitting a pair of free throws and Copp's 3-pointer to extend their lead back to 30-17 with 9:29 left.  Saint Martin's used a 11-3 run later in the first half to capture a 20 lead and brought a 54-36 edge into halftime.

The Saints started the second half off with a 7-2 run with a pair of three-point plays from Preston and Jordan Kitchen, extending the lead to 61-38.

SFU slowly began chipping away at the Saints' lead over the second half, driving the score to 76-64 on a jumper by Othniel Spence with 9:33 remaining in the game.

SMU responded over the next two minutes in the form of a layup by Baerlocher, a 3-pointer by Trey Ingram and highlighted by a put-back three-point play by Kitchen.

The Saints finished the game on a 20-11 to

"I'm so proud of our guys tonight. Simon Fraser is a young team that has been playing very well as of late, and this game had huge implications for us, so we knew we needed to be ready to play" said head coach Alex Pribble. "I thought we had a great week of preparation, and our guys put together a good performance tonight".

 Copp once again led all Saints with 18 points on 7-11 shooting, 4-7 beyond the arc to go along with four rebounds and two assists. Preston added a double-double, second of the season, with a 13 points and 11 assists, while Kitchen, Ingram and Brandon Kenilvort added 16 points each. Baerlocher was the six Saint to score in the double-digits, while Jorg finished the night with nine points and seven rebounds. Only seven SMU players scored all game.

"This was really a team victory. We talk a lot about every player on our roster playing their role, doing their specific job to help us win a game" said Pribble. "Tonight really everyone really contributed. It was a fun game to be a part of".

Up Next: The Saints travel to Western Washington University to finish out the 2016-17 regular season before returning home to host the 2017 GNAC Championships. The Saints currently hold sole possession of fourth place with Concordia in fifth and a three-way tie for the final spot.