LACEY, Wash. – Alex Clinton and
CJ Jennings combined for nearly 50 points, but despite the effort, Saint Martin's could not stop Concordia's second half offense and fell 83-72 on Thursday night.
The two guards knocked down 10 3-pointers on the night, and fueled the Saints' (5-17, 3-10 GNAC) offense that shot 54 percent from the floor, and 55 percent beyond the arc in the opening half. However, the game was a tale of two halves, as the Saints went cold in the second half. SMU dropped to 30 percent from the field, and 17 percent from deep. Concordia (3-18, 2-11) continued their offensive pace from the first half, and pulled away down the stretch.
Clinton kickstarted the game by making all of Saint Martin's points in the first eight minutes, which came all from beyond the arc.
Marcus Lenker followed with a three of his own to make the score 19-18 with the Cavaliers on top.
Threes continued to fall for the Saints; however, CU held the advantage for the next seven minutes. A free throw shot by
Marky Adams tied it up at 29-29, but Concordia went on a short run to grab a six-point lead with two minutes left on the clock. Saint Martin's slowly chipped away at the lead, until Jennings drowned a three with seconds left to end the first half, 42-41, putting the Saints on top.
The Saints went cold to open up the second half, making just one free throw in the first four minutes. CU capitalized by scoring nine points to take a 50-43 lead, which held for the next 12 minutes. It wasn't until an 8-2 run by the Cavaliers stretched their lead past 10, and never looked back.
The lead hovered around 10 points for the final three minutes of the game, with Saint Martin's unable to find the shots needed to start a comeback attempt.
Saint Martin's shot 23-for-57 (40.3 percent) from the floor, 14-for-37 beyond the arc (37.8 percent), and 12-for-19 (63.2 percent) at the free throw line. The Saints grabbed 35 rebounds, 16 assists on 12 turnovers, along with five steals and five blocks.
Saint Martin's continues at home Saturday, February 8 following the women's game with tip-off scheduled for 7:30 p.m. SMU hosts Western Oregon for a rematch with live stats and video available at smusaints.com.
