ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Beating a team three times in a season is never easy, and it took an extra five minutes for the Saints pull past Central Washington in the opening game of the GNAC Championships in Anchorage, Alaska.
 
The Saints led by as many as 14 in the second half; however, foul trouble and a stretch of over seven minutes without a field goal, allowed Central Washington to climb back in and tied the game. In overtime, without Luke Chavez, the Saints back came down three to go-ahead by three, sealing the victory with a last second block by Matt Dahlen.
 
The Saints jumped out to an early 8-0 by knocking down their first two 3-point attempts. Central Washington responded with two 3-pointers of their own. SMU's efficient start continued, hitting seven of their first nine attempts to hold a 19-10 lead with 14:30 left in the first half.
 
Central cut the score to five before Boyce knocked down yet another 3-pointer to help push the lead back out to nine. However, after such a hot start, the Saints' offense went nearly four minutes without a field goal, allowing Central to trim the lead to one. Chavez snapped the drought and a free throw by Jordan Kitchen pushed the score to 26-22 with 7:50 remaining.
 
The Wildcats knotted the score multiple times, but the Saints found an answer each time, with Chavez and BJ Standley hitting field goals. With the Saints' lead at four, SMU collected an offensive board, and found Cameron Chatwin, who connected on the 3-pointer for a Saints' seven point lead.  The Saints kept the offensive pressure in the final minutes of the game with another Chatwin 3-pointer, and went into the locker room with a 42-34 lead.
 
 Boyce picked up right where he left off, drilling back-to-back 3-pointers, giving Saint Martin's a double-digit lead. After an inbound layup for Boyce and a second chance put back by Tavian Henderson stretched the lead to 12, forcing a Central Washington timeout with 14:23 left.
 
Out of the timeout, Central began to chip away at the score, hitting a couple buckets and getting within five points. Standley and Kitchen answered back for the Saints, connecting on corner 3-pointers and pushing the lead back out to 67-55 with 9:52 remaining.
 
With their season on the line, Central Washington responded with a 12-2 run and holding Saint Martin's to without a field goal for over seven minutes. The Saints lead shrank to four during the drought with 3:56 remaining in the game.
 
Central pulled to within one point after an old-fashion three point play with little over two minutes left the game. On the following possession, Dahlen ended the drought with his own old-fashion three point play.
 
The Wildcats continued to attack and eventually tied the game on a driving layup with seven seconds left in the game. Standley drove the length of the court but his shot fell short and game was sent into overtime at 76-76.
 
Central's first lead of the game came 37 seconds into overtime, on a pair of free throws. CWU extended to an 80-77 lead before a couple free throws and a layup by Rhett Baerlocher put Saint Martin's back on top with 1:30 left. With the game tied at 81-81, Kitchen lifted the Saints to the lead with a two-handed slam at the one minute mark. Baerlocher hit three out of four free throws and with a two-point lead, the Saints made the defensive stop with three seconds left. Boyce hit one free throw to put SMU up three. On the final possession, Central pulled up for the game-tying 3-pointer, but Dahlen provided the biggest block of the season, sending the Saints to the semifinals.
 
Boyce led the team with 15 points, along with five rebounds and six assists in 37 minutes of action. Standley scored 13 points off the bench while Chavez and Kitchen each added 12 points. Baerlocher was the fifth Saint to reach double-digits, while Dahlen, in 23 minutes, recorded nine points, eight rebounds and five blocks.
 
The Saints advance to the semifinals for the second straight season and will face a familiar foe in Western Washington at 12 p.m. AST or 1 p.m. PST. The game can be seen on GNAC.tv.