HONOLULU – The Saint Martin's men's basketball team concluded their trip in the Aloha State with a victory over Texas Permian Basin on the last day of the Hoops in Hawai'i Holiday Classic presented by Outrigger Hotels Hawai'i, 77-65. Kyle Greeley received first team all-tournament team honors and Christian Haffner received second team all-tournament team honors.
 
Just one day after setting his career-high of 28, Kyle Greeley woke up still feeling like a bucket and delivered a 24-point performance as an encore. Nathaniel Stokes fell just shy of a double-double with 12 points and 8 rebounds. Christian Haffner pushed his streak of 3+ three-pointers made to four games with his latest 11-point outing. Jaden Nielsen-Skinner showed his versatility at point with 10 points, five rebounds and two assists.
 
Greeley received the first team all-tournament nod after posting 62 points ( 26-41 FG, 4-9 3PT, 6-10 FT) over the three games in the tournament. The numbers don't tell the full story as many of those points came at timely moments to shift momentum and keep SMU (10-2, 2-0 GNAC) in games.
 
Christian Haffner's second team all-tournament nod was well deserved as he was the only other Saint to score double-digits in all three games with a total of 35 points on an efficient 11-18 shooting from downtown. Haffner's shooting performance was highlighted by one of the most clutch baskets of the tournament as he made the three in the waning seconds of regulation that sent the game to overtime against Chaminade.
 
Greeley set the tone early scoring the first basket of the game to kick off a 12-5 run for Saint Martin's. The Falcons (8-5, 2-2 Lone Star) used a run of their own to close the deficit to one possession. Texas Permian Basin managed to tie the game up twice in the half but SMU never allowed them to regain the lead. The Saints went into the half with a 30-26 lead.
 
The Falcons opened the game with a 5-0 run to take the lead before Saint Martin's responded with a 13-2 run to put them ahead 44-34 with 16 minutes left in the game. Texas Permian Basin made a few attempts to cut into the lead but couldn't manage to trim the deficit any lower than six points and the Saints cruised to a 77-65 victory.
 
Head coach Aaron Landon reflects on his team's performance and the trip overall with, "I'm so proud of how our guys responded today. UTPB is well coached and defensive minded, our guys played together, kept fighting and earned a hard fought win."
 
"We learned a ton on this trip and I thought we grew a lot over the course of the week. This was an extremely valuable experience for our program."
 
After enjoying the sun and beach for a weekend, the Saints will take some time off for the holidays and be back home on Thursday, December 29th hosting Simon Fraser at 7 PM. Live stats and video will be available on smusaint.com.