Game Summary

WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's basketball team had enjoyed a string of good luck over the past week, escaping with a 61-58 win over St. Olaf last weekend, then getting a gift technical foul with 0.7 seconds left in a 71-69 win over Bethel last Wednesday.

Saturday afternoon against St. Thomas, however, Lady Luck decided to take a vacation — and took the Cardinals' three-game wining streak with her — as St. Thomas used an 18-2 second-half run to get past the Cardinals 79-61 in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game at the SMU Gym.

The Cardinals, who trailed by double digits for most of the first half, including an 11-point, 38-27 halftime deficit, finally got their offense in gear early in the second half, using a 22-11 run to start the half to tie the game 49-49 with 10:08 to play.

From there, however, it was all St. Thomas, as the Tommies scored 18 of the next 20 points to take a commanding 67-51 advantage en route to their third straight victory.

Jeff Tendall (LeClaire, Iowa) scored a team-high 15 points for the Cardinals (4-10 MIAC, 5-14 overall), who saw their losing streak to the Tommies climb to 33 straight. Jimmy Wajda (Minneapolis, Minn.) — who sank both free throws in SMU's last-second victory over Bethel on Wednesday — added 14 points for SMU, while Nick Schader and Joey Shimek each tallied 17 for the Tommies (6-7 MIAC, 8-10 overall).