LACEY, Wash. – It was a tale of two halves for the Saints in their 2021 home opener, jumping out to a 21-point lead over Seattle Pacific. However, backed by a red-hot 70 percent shooting in the second half, Seattle Pacific came back to spoil the Saints' home debut 91-to-81 on Wednesday night.
 
Saint Martin's (0-2) came out of the gates playing well on both sides of the ball. SMU's lead grew to as many as 19 before Seattle Pacific (1-2) started to gain momentum by the end of the half. The Falcons did not slow down out of the break, shooting 21-for-30 as a team, and pulled away from the Saints down the stretch. Four different Saints reached the double-digit mark, led by Alex Schumacher's 20 points, and Tyke Thompson's 18.
 
Saint Martin's found their stroke from beyond the arc quickly, with three different Saints hitting for four 3-pointers in the opening five minutes. After an and-one by Seth Coddington, the Saints capped off a 14-to-3 run to give themselves a 19-to-8 lead.
 
Both sides traded baskets over the next couple minutes until a Ty Velasquez started another 14-to-3 run for the Saints at the 7:36 mark. John Moore, Thompson, Marky Adams, and Schumacher all contributed to the run, and the Saints stretched the lead to their largest of the game at 40-to-19 with less than five to play in the half.
 
In the final five, the Falcons started to find their footing, connecting on back-to-back baskets. Goy Wang, who scored his first points of his NCAA career, hit the only shot for SMU in the final four minutes. Seattle Pacific closed out the half with a pair of 3-pointers, and trimmed the lead down to 13.
 
The momentum did not stop for the Falcons in the second half, hitting their first basket, and going on a 11-to-5 run to open the half. A pair of Thompson 3-pointers helped stem the tide for Saint Martin's for a couple minutes, but the Falcons continued to press.
 
Over eight minutes of action, Seattle Pacific had outscored the Saints 25-to-8, and near the halfway point of the half, the Saints' 21-point lead, had turned into a Falcons' 4-point lead. Saint Martin's managed to get the game within two points, but never any closer down the stretch, falling to northern rival 91-to-81.
 
Saint Martin's shot 30-for-64 (46.9 percent) from the field, along with 12-for-27 (44.4 percent) beyond the arc, and 9-for-12 at the line. SPU out rebounded the Saints to a tune of 33-to-26, while the Saints collected 18 assists on six turnovers, nine steals, and five blocks.
 
The Saints and Falcons will square off against each other tomorrow, Thursday, Jan. 21 at 6:00 PM inside Marcus Pavilion once again. Live stats and video of the game will be available on smusaints.com.