Monday, January 28, 2019
PORTLAND, Ore. – Entering last week with the longest winning streak in the conference, the Saint Martin's men's basketball team faced an important two-game stretch with a rivalry game against Seattle Pacific and a challenging road trip to Montana State Billings. The Saints ultimately took the test in stride, sweeping the week to run their streak up to six games.
The team tipped off its week with a blowout 80-63 victory at home against the Falcons, then topped the Yellowjackets by two to earn the selection as GNAC Team of the Week.
"We are honored to be named the GNAC Team of the Week," said head coach Alex Pribble. "In such a competitive conference, every night is a battle and I'm very proud of the way our guys pulled together and came away with a couple big wins on a short week."
Pribble's team was led by senior Chandler Redix, who averaged 20 points and five rebounds per game over the two victories. Redix is the team's leader in points this year, scoring at a clip of 13.2 per game, and was named the GNAC Men's Basketball Player of the Week on Monday.
Paced by a 24-point outburst from Redix, SMU had four starters finish in double figures in the 17-point rivalry victory to tip-off the week.
The balanced production continued two days later in Billings, where the club kept things rolling in tighter fashion against MSUB. The backcourt duo of seniors Luke Chavez (25 points) and EJ Boyce (17 points, five rebounds) carried Saint Martin's, which trailed by as many as 11 in the second half before rallying for a 76-74 win.
The contest marked the culmination of the first half of conference play, which ends with the Saints on top of the GNAC standings.
"We faced some adversity on the road and it was our senior leadership and culture that allowed us to overcome the challenges," Pribble said. "These guys believe in each other and they rise to the occasion when things get tough. We learned some really valuable lessons during the first half of conference and we're going to have to take those lessons with us moving forward if we want to have continued success."
Saint Martin's returns home this week, putting its winning streak on the line against Western Washington on Thursday night in Lacey. Pribble's team will then stay home and return to the floor two nights later against Simon Fraser.