BURNABY, B.C. — If the Simon Fraser Red Leafs' men's basketball team made a New Year's resolution, it had to have been all about wanting to find one identity it could call its very own.

On Thursday, as the 2024 portion of its Great Northwest Athletic Conference season opened at home, Simon Fraser made a genuine statement against a vaunted Saint Martin's Saints team ranked in the top five of both NCAA Division II national polls.

Yet while the Red Leafs dominated the GNAC's best rebounding team in resounding fashion, it nullified its own glass-crashing exploits by shooting a lonely 13 per cent from three-point range en route to a 74-68 loss that was almost as discouraging as it was encouraging.

"If we hit seven threes, we win that game by four or five (points) and that is the difference," mused Red Leafs' head coach Steve Hanson, whose team fell to 0-2 in the conference (2-11 overall). "We told the guys 'This is our home court, we have to hit shots at home.' It's on them to get better shooting. We had a lot of clean looks that didn't go down tonight. Three-for-23 is just unacceptable."

All of that said, the Red Leafs' woes from downtown seemed magnified because they were such a contrast to what was a dominant rebounding performance against one of the conference's best rebounding teams.

SFU out-boarded Saint Martin's 50-37, but even more impressively owned a 21-8 advantage in offensive rebounds.

Both numbers are even more impressive when you consider that the Saints are the No. 2 offensive rebounding team in the GNAC at 12.8 per game, and own the No. 1 rebounding differential in the conference at plus-9.4.

"We absolutely won the battle on the glass," agreed Hanson. "(But) when you have 21 offensive boards you should be (shooting) 60-to-70 per cent inside. We weren't. We missed a lot of gimmes. We just have to be better inside."

Yet for all of the evening's extreme contrasts, the Red Leafs answered the bell on a competitive level for virtually the entire 40 minutes against a Saints team which was ranked No. 4 nationally in the D2CSC media poll and No. 5 in the NABC coaches poll.
 

Trailing 36-34 after a first half which featured 14 lead changes, Simon Fraser lost its mojo oert a brief span of 3:44 to open the second half, surrendering an 11-2 run to Saint Martin's to fall behind 47-36 on a driving lay-in by team scoring-leader Kyle Greeley.

Red Leafs' centre Zach Stone (Ottawa) cut that deficit to five points on a pair of occasions, including 70-65 on a dunk with 1:32 left on the clock.

Stone later went to the free throw line with a chance to make it a three-point game with exactly one minute remaining, but hit on one of two to make it 70-66.

And while there was no consolation in losing by six points to a team which came in with the GNAC's largest average margin of victory this season (plus-19.2 points), Hanson admitted his team had gained some traction heading into Saturday's 7 p.m. home tip against Western Oregon. Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/sfu-mens-basketball-vs-western-oregon-university-tickets-727795876057

"Just really happy with the way we executed the defensive game plan," the coach said. "They play at such a high pace, and I thought we did a great job taking away that pace. We made them play in half court."

The Saints were led by the 19 points and nine rebounds of Portland State transfer guard Greeley. Myles Samuels added 16 and Tyke Thompson 10.

Red Leafs' senior guard David Penney (Guelph, Ont.) turned in one of the top performances of his season, playing the entire 40 minutes and pouring home 23 points.

Stone came off the bench to provide a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds in 15 minutes of floor time.
 

The Red Leafs got a huge boost as hard-nosed 6-foot-4, 230-pound redshirt junior Eric Beckett (Ajax, Ont.) suited up for his first game in 409 days.

The University of Vermont transfer, who came to SFU to start the 2022-23 season, had battled through hamstring and concussion issues before injuring his knee this past summer and undergoing meniscus surgery. Although he had not played for 409 days dating back to the first game of the 2022-23 season, Beckett showed the same hard-nosed traits Hanson had trumpeted upon his arrival.

In just over 15 minutes of floor time, he managed to hit a three-pointer late in the second half, while also grabbing five rebounds and diving on the floor for a number of loose balls.

"He was on a minutes restriction so our goal was to get him three or four two-minute shifts, but at the end there, we had him on for four or five minutes, so he was dying out there," said Hanson of Beckett, who seems to know only one way to play. "But I just know how much this means to him. It's been a long haul with the concussions and then the knee injury at the end of July. He's a huge presence. You could see it this week, just the confidence he gives our guards and our other guys just by being on the floor with them."

For the latest information on SFU Athletics, visit athletics.sfu.ca. You can also find us on social media at @SFU_Athletics.

#RepTheLeaf