SAN DIEGO, Calif. – It was a tale of two halves, with Point Loma dominating in the first half, and holding a 19-point lead at the start of the second half. The Saints' offense found their spark and rattled off 53 points in the second half to pull off one of the most dramatic comebacks in school history, and knocked off Point Loma, 81-76, on the road.
 
Point Loma (1-1) led by their Western Washington transfer Daulton Hommes, and his 37 points, 25 of which came in the first half along, looked to have the game nearly put away. The Sea Lions led by as many as 19 in the second half, before the Saints (2-0) began connecting from long distance, seven 3-pointers, and shot 51.3/58.3/83.3 to fuel the comeback. The Saints finally took the lead with only 2:41 left, on a 3-pointer by Rhett Baerlocher. Leading 71-70, the Saints came up with clutch baskets by Luke Chavez, Chandler Redix, and Tavian Henderson, who had the game-clinching dunk with five seconds on the clock.
 
"This was a very special win," said head coach Alex Pribble. "We walked out of the locker room at halftime, and I told the guys that our effort and energy in the second was going to say a lot about our team. I think it did, it showed that is an experienced, resilient bunch of guys."
 
Saint Martin's jumped out to an early 9-4 lead, highlighted by a fastbreak dunk by Jordan Kitchen. Minutes later, the Sea Lions managed to tie and take their lead of the game at the 14:40 mark. The Saints responded with back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers by Kitchen, EJ Boyce, and Chavez to stretch their lead back to six. Chavez scored a layup and with 10 minutes left to go in the half, the Saints controlled the game with a 22-14 lead.
 
The transfer guard, Hommes, began to find his flow on the court, and in the final ten minutes of the half, scored 20 of the Sea Lions' 24 points. Hommes single-handily took over the game, and the Saints' defense had no answer. Point Loma's defense also became lock-down, holding SMU to only six points in over 10 minutes, as PLNU took a 43-28 lead into the break.
 
Point Loma hit two layups in the first two possessions of the second half, to increase their to 19 points. However, with the Saints' back against the wall, they responded with force. Boyce scored in the paint, and Jared Mathews stepped outside to a 3-pointer to jumpstart the Saints' offense. Despite the increase in offense, the Saints still trailed 58-41 with only 12:29 left to go.
 
After the media timeout, the momentum shifted; as Saint Martin's came alive with the performance of Henderson. The sophomore scored six points in the Saints' 8-0 run and helped trim the lead to 58-50 with 9:58 left. Henderson continued to find ways to score, attacking the paint, which led to open shots from the outside for his teammates. Caden Smith and Rhett Baerlocher both knocked down timely 3-pointers, and SMU cut the score to 68-67 with 4:17 on the clock.
 
Point Loma's lead finally disappeared after 26 minutes, when Baerlocher connected on his fifth 3-pointer of the game, put SMU back on top 71-70 with only 2:41 left. On the following possession, Baerlocher picked up a critical offensive rebound, which led to a layup for Redix. Boyce then forced a steal and found Henderson for a dunk to extend SMU's lead to 75-71 with only 1:15 on the clock. Saint Martin's sealed the historic comeback with a jumper by Chavez, and a last second dunk by Henderson.
 
Henderson led the Saints with 19 points, while shooting 7-for-9 from the field. Baerlocher added 15 points, all from beyond the arc, along with three rebounds and three assists. Chavez and Boyce each hit double-digits in scoring with 13 and 10 points respectively. Kitchen ended with a team-high eight rebounds, followed by Mathews at seven and Henderson at six. Redix led the way in assists at five.
 
As a team, Saint Martin's shot the ball efficiently, going 27-for-59 (45.8 percent), 10-for-17 (58.8 percent) beyond the 3-point line, and 17-for-23 (73.9 percent) at the free throw line. The Saints scored 33 points in the paints, along with 19 points off turnovers, and 37 points off the bench.
 
Saint Martin's road trip is not over yet, as they travel to UC San Diego on Monday, November 12, for a 7:00 p.m. tip-off. Live stats and video of the game will be available with links on smusaints.com.