Game Summary

WINONA, Minn. — Saint Mary's University men's basketball coach Bob Biebel might want to consider petitioning the NCAA rules committee, asking that games involving his Cardinals don't have a halftime intermission.

Play 20 minutes, rest a minute or so, then play 20 more.

Intermission is recharging the Cardinals' opponents, but it seems to zap all the energy from the Cardinals themselves.

For the third straight game, the Cardinals struggled from the field in the second half Wednesday evening, as Augsburg rallied from a two-point deficit that the break to outscore SMU 31-24 over the final 20 minutes en route to a 59-54 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory at the SMU gym.

Ryan Wilt (Naperville, Ill.) scored a game-high 18 points and pulled down nine rebounds to lead the Cardinals, who have now dropped three straight — and have scored just 13, 19 and 24 points in the second halves of those three games.

Despite shooting just 37 percent from the field (10-for-27), the Cardinals managed to take a 31-28 advantage into the locker room at halftime.

Unfortunately, the Cardinals had to come out for the second half, and everything that went for the first 20 minutes, went wrong over the final 20.

Wilt, who scored 13 of his game-high 18 points in the first half, made just 2 of his 7 second-half field goal attempts, and the Cardinals as a team shot 31 percent from the field (9-for-29). The Cardinals extended their lead to eight points, 43-35, on a jumper by Brett Johnson (Onalaska, Wis.) with 13:18 remaining, but an 13-3 run over the next eight minutes, capped by a pair of free throws by Shawn Johnson, gave the Auggies (6-9 MIAC, 10-10 overall) the lead for good, 48-46.