LACEY, Wash. – The Saints return a veteran core heading into the 2021-22 season that will look to prove the voters wrong. Saint Martin's placed ninth in the 2021-22 GNAC Preseason Coaches' Poll on Friday afternoon.
 
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Seattle Pacific enters the year with every expectation to win the GNAC. The Falcons swept all 10 first place votes and start the year as the clear preseason favorite. Alaska Anchorage (77 points), Western Washington (76) and Alaska (64) filtered in a second, third, and fourth respectively.
 
Northwest Nazarene (61), who made a deep run in the NCAA Tournament last year, placed fifth, followed by Central Washington (47) and Simon Fraser (41). Western Oregon (34), Saint Martin's (28), and Montana State Billings (22) rounded out the polling.
 
The Saints will be led by breakout star Alex Schumacher who led the team in scoring last spring at 15.3 points per game. The guard from Vancouver, Washington, reached the 20-point mark five times last season, highlighted by a 29-point performance over Northwest Nazarene. He also led the team in assists at 2.5 per game and steals at 1.8.
 
Tyke Thompson returns after being second on the team in scoring at 11.1 points per game, along with his team-leading 6.4 rebounds per game. Thompson had a stellar opening game of the year, scoring 20 points, and grabbing 13 rebounds against Division-I Seattle U.
 
Returning downlow for the Saints is Marky Adams, who was a 2020 GNAC All-Conference honorable mention. Adams missed the final three games of the year due to injury but still managed to average 6.1 points, and 4.7 rebounds, along with his team-leading 1.8 blocks per game.
 
Other notable returners include Goy Wang, a junior forward who averaged 6.1 points and 2.3 rebounds per contest. Junior guard John Moore, who averaged 4.7 points, and 3.5 rebounds in all 12 games. Guards Josh Camper, and Marcus Lenker saw action in 10 of the Saints' 12 games, and both averaged nearly eight minutes per contest.
 
The Saints welcome eight new players to the roster in 2021-22 including five transfers, and three freshmen.
 
Christian Haffner, a 6-2 guard from Gresham, Wisconsin, transferred from Des Moines Area community college. Kyle Greeley, a 6-5 sophomore guard, and Jaden Nielsen-Skinner, a 5-10 sophomore guard, both join the Saints from Portland State University. Brett Reed, a 6-8 forward, joins Saint Martin's for his final year, transferring from Chaminade where he ranked fourth in the PacWest in rebounding in 2018. Veljko Ilic, a 6-9 sophomore forward from Utah State Eastern, will add depth down low for the Saints.
 
Saint Martin's picked up two recruits from Sumner High School in 6-7 forward Champ Spencer, and 6-7 forward Nathan Vivola. Joining them in the freshman class is Cory Schramm, a 6-9 forward from Chelan High School.
 
Saint Martin's opens the season on the road against Oregon State in an exhibition on November 4. The Saints first official game of the year is on Nov 12 against Holy Names in California.