LACEY, Wash. – Returning to the court for the first time in 10 days, the Saints wasted no time pulling away from Western Oregon and claiming their fifth win in conference action.
 
Saint Martin's (12-4, 5-2 GNAC) welcomed back guard Alex Schumacher, who went for a double-double in 11 points, and 10 rebounds and provided the Saints a spark in the opening minutes. Brett Reed led the way with 21 points, and seven rebounds on 9-for-14 shooting. Defensively, Saint Martin's held one of the top scorers in the GNAC in Western Oregon's Cameron Cranston to only 11 points on 5-for-15 shooting.
 
The Saints quickly got off to a 12-5 lead over the Wolves (3-11, 2-4) with Schumacher leading the way with five points. However, the offense cooled off and Western Oregon managed to take their first lead at 13-12.
 
Both sides went back-and-forth over the next eight minutes of action, with the Saints leading 19-18 at the 6:30 mark in the first half. A 3-pointer from Champ Spencer off the bench sparked the Saints' offense. SMU closed out the half on a 22-7 run to opened up a 16-point lead at the break.
 
Saint Martin's continued to outpace Western Oregon in the second half, shooting 44 percent from the field, while the Wolves were limited to 28 percent the field. Western Oregon, one of the top 3-point shooting teams in the GNAC, went 5-for-24 in the game, and only 1-for-11 in the second half.
 
Every single player eligible to suit up saw minutes on the floor, and eight Saints got into the scoring ledger. Marcus Lenker stepped up off the bench with eight points, and four rebounds in 23 minutes of action, along with Spencer adding seven points in 22 points.
 
The Saints return the favor and travel down to Western Oregon on Saturday for a 4:15 PM tip-off. Live stats and video of the game will be available on smusaints.com.