LACEY, Wash. - Saint Martin's erased an early nine-point deficit to Pacific, surging to a 22-point victory on Thursday night.
 
The Saints (7-2), trailing by one at half, turn the corner quickly in the second half. SMU finished the half 18-30 from the field and cruised down the stretch to another victory. Rian Clear and Lauryn Morris led the Saints with Clear finishing with 24 points, eight rebounds, and four assists. Morris, celebrating a birthday, ended with 13 points, seven rebounds, and five assists.
 
Saint Martin's opened the game with baskets from Morris and Clear. However, Pacific quickly responded, going on a 15-4 run to take a lead. The Boxers lead hit as many as nine before end of the first quarter.
 
Offensive production from Morris and Emily Nelson helped the Saints trim the lead down to just three with 6:30 left on the clock. Three minutes later, a Morris jumper put the Saints back into the lead at 26-25. The two sides went back-and-forth down the stretch with Pacific taking a 29-28 lead into the locker room.
 
The Saints began the second half on fire, going down low for four baskets, and opening a five-point lead in the first three minutes. Before the end of the quarter, SMU's lead had stretched to double-digits before a last second basket for Pacific made it 48-40 heading into the final quarter.
 
Saint Martin's knocked down their first 3-pointer at the 7:41 mark on a second chance attempt for Clear. After going over 32 minutes without a 3-pointer, Morris went back-to-back with Clear and opened a 13-lead for SMU. Saint Martin's finished the contest with strong defense and more offense to cruise to the 71-49 victory.
 
The Saints return to action tomorrow at 7:00 PM against Simpson inside Marcus Pavilion. Live stats and video will be available on smusaints.com.
 
A Look Into The Numbers:

• Saint Martin's went 0-12 from deep through three quarters before going 5-6 in the fourth
• Five different Saints had 6 or more rebounds
• Claire Dingus finished with 15 points, 7 rebounds in 27 minutes
• Chenoa Louie recorded career-highs in points (6), and rebounds (7)
• Pacific was limited to 31 percent from the field, and just 18.5 percent beyond the arc