LACEY, Wash. – A hot-shooting Saint Martin’s team was too much for the Evergreen Geoducks to overcome as the Saints took the men’s basketball exhibition between Thurston County rivals, 89-69, on Tuesday night at Marcus Pavilion in Lacey, Wash.

In the first half, the Saint couldn’t miss as SMU quickly built a lead, reaching double-digits on six-of-seven shooting with 16:06 left to play in the opening period.  Saint Martin’s eventually cooled off a little bit and the Geoducks found their shot but the lead continued to grow as a three-pointer at the buzzer by Kyle Calhoun (Seattle, Wash./Hazen HS/Marshalltown CC) closed the gap to 15 at half with SMU leading 49-34.

In the second half, the Geoducks managed to keep with the Saints but the differential was too much to overcome as SMU held on for the 89-69 win.  Evergreen did put on the defensive pressure in the second period, picking up 10 points off nine SMU turnovers but the Geoducks struggled shooting, making just 28.1% of attempts in the second half.

Evergreen was led by 16 points each from Calhoun and Frankie Johnson (Renton, Wash./Hazen HS).  KJ Hong (Federal Way, Wash./Decatur HS/Shoreline CC) added 15 points while Cody Peters (Oak Harbor, Wash./Coupeville HS/Western Oregon Univ.)  came off the bench to earn the double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Saint Martin’s was led by 27 points from Evan Coulter, who earned nine of those points from the charity stripe.  Riley Carel added 14 while Ryan Rogers and Tyler Copp each chalked up 12 points in the win. After shooting 54.1% in the first half, the Saints shot 39.3% in the second half to finish at 47.7% for the game.

The Geoducks return to the counting portion of the schedule on Wednesday night as they host Northwest in the second game of a non-conference doubleheader that also features the Evergreen and NU women.  Tip with the Eagles is set for approximately 8 p.m. at CRC Gymnasium in Olympia.

Box Score