PORTLAND, Ore. – Five Saints score in double-digits, led by Tyler Copp's 22, as the Saints won a crucial road game over Concordia University, 85-78, inside LCEF Court.

In the final 44 seconds, with the Saints leading 75-68, SMU (12-10, 6-8 GNAC) clinched the victory going 8-8 from the free throw line, with a pair from Brandon Kenilvort, Tyler Copp and four from Logan Adams.

Both teams struggled to find their rhythm on the offensive end of the floor, remaining gridlocked at 18-18 with 7:09 left in the first half. Fred Jorg grabbed the offensive board and got the put back layup to give the Saints the lead, one they would not relinquish for the rest of the game.

The Cavaliers (9-12, 5-9) cut the lead to one, twice, in the half, both times on a jumper from Taylor Harris. SMU gained the first advantage of the game on a 9-0 run, five points coming from Copp. Saint Martin's took a 36-26 lead into halftime on a layup from Cole Preston in the final seconds.

Concordia began chipping away at the Saints' lead, cutting the score to 36-30 with 19:14 left on a Gray bucket. SMU responded once again, as a team, with buckets from Copp, Preston and a 3-Pointer from Kenilvort to extend the lead to 48-36 with 14:12 left in the game.

After the Cavaliers went a quick 7-3 run, SMU answered back with their own 13-4 stretch to extend the lead to 17 points, the largest of the night. Slowly over final minutes of the game, Concordia rallied behind Jarrett Gray, who finished with a game-high 26 points. Gray's layup and back-to-back three's trimmed SMU's lead to as little as five; however, the Saints sealed the 85-78 victory at the charity stripe.

"This was a hard fought game. The guys responded great tonight against a very well coached team" said head coach Alex Pribble. "Concordia has been playing very well right now and our guys needed to give their best effort. This was a team win, and our guys really competed tonight".

Copp led all Saints with 22 points, the most since a 25 point performance on Dec. 29, on 8-14 shooting and 4-6 from deep. Preston added 12 points on 5-10 from the field and a team high six assists, while Jordan Kitchen went 4-9 for 10 points and eight rebounds. Kenilvort supplied 14 points off the bench on 5-11 shooting and crashed the boards for nine total rebounds. Jorg earned his first double-double of the season after a 10 point, 11 rebound performance in 18 minutes of action.

"Tyler Copp gave us some momentum on the offensive end. He got a rhythm going and that opened up the floor for other guys" said Pribble. "Cole Preston did a great job distributing, and Fred Jorg had a big double-double for us. Brandon Kenilvort also provided a great spark off the bench".

As a team, SMU shot an effective 32-62 (.516) overall, 5-16 (.313) from beyond the arc and 16-21 (.762) from the free throw line. The Saints won the battle on the boards (45-38) and finished with 13 assists on 14 turnovers, 42 points in the paint and 27 points off the bench.

"Everyone played their role tonight. Logan [Adams] came in and knocked down some big free throws for us" said Pribble. "This was really a full team effort".

Up Next: The Saints return home to face Central Washington (12-8, 7-7) in a critical GNAC game on Feb. 9 at 7:30 pm. The Wildcats remain one game ahead of SMU in the standings in a fight for the final spot in the GNAC postseason tournament. Live stats and video will be available on smusaints.com.