PORTLAND, Ore. – A late second half barrage from deep by the Saints nearly allowed Saint Martin's to go on the road and upset Division-I opponent Portland State, 69-to-60, on Tuesday night.
 
Portland State (4-8) pulled away at the start of the second half, leading by as many as 12. But the Saints (0-4) began connecting from beyond the arc to close the gap. Saint Martin's connected on 11 3-pointers in the game, while limiting Portland State to only 32 percent from the field, and 29 percent beyond the arc.
 
Saint Martin's opened the first half scoring 10 points in the first four minutes, and 15 in the opening five. However, over the next 15 minutes, Saint Martin's struggled to find that output, scoring 11 points in that span, ending with 28 at the break.
 
Tyke Thompson led the game off with a 3-pointer, as Saint Martin's hit their first four attempts in the half. Ty Velasquez connected on the third 3-pointer, and gave Saint Martin's their largest lead of the first half at 15-8.
 
The Saints' offense cooled off over the half, sandwiched by two 4-minute scoring droughts. Saint Martin's closed out the half on 1-for-10 shooting. Portland State did not take their first lead of the game until the 10:26 mark. SMU managed to get within one point of regaining the lead on a Demonte Malloy old school 3-point play but never was able to regain the lead going to halftime trailing 32-to-28.
 
While the offensive struggles continued for the Saints in the early second half, Portland State jumped on the board. Within five minutes, the Vikings' lead had touched 12 points.
 
Saint Martin's found life behind the play of Velasquez, who ended the Saints' scoring drought with two assists, and a 3-pointer. Saint Martin's cut the lead back down to just seven points with 10 minutes left in the game.
 
The Saints found their stroke from beyond the arc, connecting on four straight 3-pointers, with Goy Wang, Thompson, and Velasquez all contributing. The 12-to-3 run by the Saints cut the lead all the way down to just one (52-to-51) with only minutes left to play.
 
Portland State rallied around back-to-back 3-pointers to stretch their back to seven heading into the final three minutes. A Malloy 3-pointer gave the Saints hope late, cutting the score to four, but SMU never found a way to close the gap entirely, falling to Portland State.
 
Saint Martin's shot 22-for-56 (42.9 percent) from the field, 11-for-25 (44.0 percent) beyond the arc, and 5-for-6 at the free throw line. Portland State outrebound the Saints 40-to-33, while the Saints collected 16 assists on 19 turnovers, along with one steal and three blocks.
 
The Saints return to action on Friday, January 29 against Northwest Nazarene at home. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:00 PM with live stats and video available on smusaints.com.