Game Summary

WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's basketball team won the shooting batlle.

The Cardinals won the battle on the offensive glass.

And the battle from the free throw line was a wash.

Unfortunately, while SMU came out on top in several statistical categories, the Cardinals still lost the war, falling to Bethel 73-62 Monday evening at the SMU gym.

As good as the Cardinals were when the ball was in play — SMU shot 41 percent from the field (22-for-53) and pulled down 37 rebounds — it was when the ball was not in play that proved to be their demise.

SMU hit just 14 of 25 free throw attempts (56 percent), whlie the visiting Royals connected on 25 of 35 (71 percent) — a difference of 11 free throws … 11 points … 11-point loss.

"Our team played hard and with great effort. We just couldn't get some shots to fall and missed some key free throws," said SMU coach Bob Biebel. "It's a different game if we make our free throws. You can't expect to stay in the game if you can't hit your free throws."

The Cardinals jumped out to an 11-point first-half advantage, but ice-cold shooting — especially from the foul line did them in as Bethel rallied to take a 32-30 halftime advantage, then outscored SMU 41-32 over the game's final 20 minutes to seal the win.

Nick Michaels (Dyer, Ind.) and Lance Larson (Lakeville, Minn.) led the way for SMU (1-2 MIAC, 1-4 overall), scoring 13 points each. Ryan Wilt (Naperville, Ill.) and Jim Wangler (Wheaton, Ill.) each chipped in 12 points.

Andy Gilbert tossed in a game-high 16 points for Bethel (2-1 MIAc, 3-3 overall), while Joe Dykhoff added 11.