GUIMARAES, PORTUGAL — Saint Martin's University Men's Basketball standout Tyke Thompson has signed a professional contract with Vitória S.C.

Tyke will be heading to Portugal to pursue a professional basketball career and compete in the Liga Betclic. Thompson joined the Saints program in 2019 from South Puget Sound Community College where he played with current Saint Martin's Head Coach Aaron Landon and Associate Head Coach Tyler Velasquez. After redshirting his first season as a Saint, became a core asset of the team. The Salem, Oregon native is a back-to-back Second Team All-GNAC member in 2022-23 and 2023-24 and was named an Honorable Mention in 2021-22 off the back of impressive career averages, including 10.5 points per game, 2.4 assists per game, and 5.9 rebounds per game. As a senior, Thompson passed the 1,000-point mark to cap off an incredible career as a Saint, where he was a part of two regular-season championship teams and a trip to the NCAA DII Men's Basketball Tournament.

Thompson looks upon his past five years in Lacey fondly as he begins his professional basketball career:

"Signing this contract & playing professionally has been a dream of mine since I was a little kid. Basketball has been a huge part of my life and I am thankful to call it a job. My last five years at Saint Martin's is a huge reason this was all possible. My coaches and teammates believed in me and pushed me every day to be the best."

Landon is proud of Thompson for helping build the program and leaving a winning legacy:

"We are so excited for Tyke to have this opportunity, we've talked about this since he was an 18-year-old freshman. Tyke came with us from SPSCC after we were hired in 2019. We built the program with him and he's directly responsible for the success we've had since. Tyke has a championship legacy and will go down as one of the greatest winners in school history."