As the games grow more historic and unprecedented, the Saint Martin’s men’s basketball team continues to thrive on the big stage.
The Saints, the No. 2 seed in the NCAA West Regional Tournament, pulled off a stunning 14-point second-half comeback against No. 7 seed Hawaii Pacific, winning 75-68 at Pioneer Gym in Hayward, California Friday.
With the victory, Saint Martin’s advances to the NCAA Division II Tournament second round — the semifinals of the West Regional — and has tied the single-season wins record with 26.
Saint Martin’s jumped ahead early by five as Diego Trejo-Delgado got to work on offense. Both teams exchanged leads before Hawaii Pacific ripped off a 15-4 run to vault in front to 10 with a minute and a half left in the first half — a lead that held at halftime.
The Sharks opened up a 14-point advantage with 16:02 left in the first half. For a few minutes, any spark by the Saints was dimmed, but Saint Martin’s kicked off its rally from a 10-point deficit with 12 minutes left. The Saints exploded with a 22-6 run over the next seven minutes, with a big 3-pointer by Dae’Kwon Watson to cut the margin to one and a go-ahead layup by Trejo-Delgado with 6:16 remaining. Kaden Hansen knocked down a jumper to extend the lead to three, and Watson drilled another clutch triple to grow it to five.
HPU’s Quentin Meza went on a tear, scoring six straight for the Sharks to tie the game at six, and Kilfoil knocked down a go-ahead 3-pointer from the corner with 1:55 to go. Watson, a clutch player late in the year for Saint Martin’s, came up huge again with a dagger 3-pointer to put the Saints up four with 49 seconds left.
Watson finished with 18 points, only behind Trejo-Delgado’s 19. Kilfoil added 12, Hansen scored 11, and Mark Clegg Jr. tallied nine points.
Saint Martin’s (26-5) will now face No. 3 seed Point Loma (26-5) in the second round of the tournament Saturday at 5 p.m.. If the Saints win, they will advance to the West Regional finals — the Sweet 16 of the tournament — Monday night.
