LACEY, Wash. – Saint Martin's trailed the entire game and came back in the final seconds to tie the contest but gave up a layup in the final seconds and lost 77-75 to Central Washington.
 
Despite the loss, Jaden Nielsen-Skinner put up a double-double of 15 points and 12 rebounds to go along with his seven rebounds and three steals. Branden Bunn led the team in scoring with 16 points and his first layup in the game was his 1,500th career point. Kyle Greeley rounded up the double digit scorers with 10 points. Tyke Thompson led the team in rebounds with eight to complement his seven points. Shakeem Alcindor had a busy night of eight points, seven rebounds, one steal and a block.
 
CWU opened the game with back to back jumpers before Greeley drained a three for the first basket of the game for the Saints. The Wildcat were locked in in the first half shooting 50% from the field and 44% from deep while SMU's offense struggled as they shot 33% from the field and 20% from deep in the first half. Saint Martin's went into the break down 37-28.
 
With 16 minutes left in the half, the Saints used a 15-2 run, led by 8 points from Bunn, to tie the game up 50-50 with 12 minutes remaining in the game. The Wildcats used a run of their own to regain the lead but the Saints remained in striking distance. With just over a minute left, the Saints went on an 8-0 run, capped off by a clutch jumper from Greeley that tied the game up 75-75 with 18 seconds left. CWU held for the last possession and scored the game winning basket to give Saint Martin's the 77-75 loss.
 
The Saints have no time to hang their heads as the GNAC regular season title is still up for grabs and Saint Martin's needs a win on Saturday against Northwest Nazarene at 7:30 PM. Live stats and video will be available on smusaints.com.