Young roster propelled Saint Martin’s to 2021-22 GNAC men’s basketball title

When coach Alex Pribble left Saint Martin’s University for a spot on Seattle U’s coaching staff following the 2018-19 season, Saints basketball was on a high.

SMU finished 26-6, advancing to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Division II tournament.

Pribble’s replacement, Aaron Landon, had won championships at South Puget Sound Community College, but his first two seasons at SMU weren’t stellar. The Saints finished 6-23 in ’19-’20, then 2-10 in the COVID-19 shortened ’20-’21 campaign.

All that changed, quickly, during the recently-concluded ’21-’22 season.

The Saints opened with an exhibition game at Oregon State, which was coming off an appearance in the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament.

“We knew after the first 20 minutes of that game we were going to be very good,” Landon said. “We were so physical up front and so deep at the guard positions.”

The Saints also got their first look at the guy who would become what Landon called “the heart and soul” of the team, senior transfer Brett Reed, who would go on to make first team All-Great Northwest Athletic Conference with 14 points and 8.4 rebounds per game.

That November night in Corvallis, Reed began the game on the bench. But when starting post Marky Adams picked up his second foul, the 6-foot-8 Reed came on and made his presence felt, tallying a 10 and 10 double-double in 26 minutes while establishing himself as a vocal leader.

“He wasn’t just playing well, he was flexing, walking through the Oregon State huddle, all the macho aggressive stuff you don’t have any business doing in a guarantee game,” Landon recalled. “Guys were looking at him like ‘what’s wrong with this guy.’ But they were smiling and laughing because he’s so authentic.

“He gave us so much confidence the whole year.”

Reed’s actions were intentional.

“I’m one of the older guys on the team,” he said. “I knew if I came out and threw the first punch, guys on the team would follow and think ‘hey, we can do this.’”

Saint Martin’s ultimately lost, 83-80, on an off-balance buzzer-beating 3-pointer by OSU’s Dashawn Davis, a career 19 percent shooter from beyond the arc.

But a tone had been established. The Saints went on to win the GNAC regular season championship via a complex points rating system the league adopted when administrators realized, because of the lingering effects of the coronavirus, teams would not play equal numbers of conference games.

“We strung a lot of good practices together at the beginning of the year, which was important since a lot of us hadn’t been here last season,” said Reed. “It took some time, hanging out off the court, developing chemistry and the mindset we could be good.”

The Saints’ finished 18-6 after ending the season the way they started it, with a buzzer-beating loss to an Oregon school as Western Oregon upset them at Marcus Pavilion in the first round of the GNAC tournament.

Yet a corner had been turned.

“My path and journey at Saint Martin’s has been the most humbling thing you could imagine,” said Landon, who admits he and long-time assistant Tyler Velasquez had to scrap a lot of what they thought would work after starting their term as Division II coaches 8-33.

“As much as I’d like to say I figured things out after two years, the biggest thing was what we were able to do with our roster.”

In came Reed and transfers Alex Schumacher and Jaden Nielsen-Skinner from Portland State. Holdovers Tyke Thompson and the 6-foot-9 Adams keep up their contributions.

Schumacher led Saint Martin’s with 14.6 ppg, shooting 48 percent from three.

“Alex was really, really explosive,” said Landon. “As soon as your entire defense isn’t set up to stop him he’s going to score layups or shoot threes.”

Reed averaged 14.0 per game, despite a four-year gap after stops at Cabrillo, a community college in California, and Chaminade. He led the GNAC with 8.4 rebounds per game.

Both juniors, Kyle Greeley scored 13.3 points per game, Christian Haffner 9.5. Nielsen-Skinner, a sophomore, tallied 7.5 points per game and totaled 124 assists.

Schumacher has placed his name in the transfer portal, but most of the Saints’ other young contributors return.

Reed, who plans to play in Europe during the 2022-23 season, sees good things ahead for SMU.

“It was emotional for me when the season ended because I built such a good relationship with a lot of the guys,” he said. “With the young players coming back and what the coaches are doing in recruiting, this is a more attractive program, a destination. I’m excited to see what the future is like.”

Landon says recruiting is indeed going well at a suburban school that doesn’t fit the niche of other GNAC schools such as urban Seattle Pacific or rural Central Washington.

“You’re not going to come to Saint Martin’s for football tailgates and frat parties. It’s not going to be like Madison, Wisconsin on a Saturday night,” he said. “But if you’re at one of the large state schools, you’re not going to have a key card that gets you into the gym to shoot whenever you want.”

Another selling point is the Saints’ popularity in the community. The lower bowl at Marcus fills up nightly. Saints basketball has a traditional following that goes back to before The Evergreen State College or SPSCC so much as fielded teams.

“People in the 50-70 range make a Thursday night or Saturday afternoon out of it,” said Landon. “They remember the great teams (current athletic director) Bob Grisham had when he coached and developed a lot of loyalty.”