Game Summary
WINONA, Minn. — Saint Mary's University men's basketball coach Mark Lovelace could not have dreamed up a better ending — to last Monday's MIAC game and the season — than the one that unfolded against St. John's.
The Cardinals got a career-high 24 points from Dan Kloak (Elmwood Park, Ill.) — including 19 in the second half when he went 5-for-5 from the field and 9-for-10 from the free throw line — and scored a season-high 54 second-half points in handing the Johnnies an 83-76 setback.
SMU, which ended the season with back-to-back wins, closed out the year with a 6-14 record in the MIAC and a 7-18 overall mark. The Cardinals' seven wins are the most by a men's basketball team since the 1999-2000 team won 11 games.
After struggling through the opening 20 minutes, in which SMU made just 11 of 23 field goals in falling behind by 12, 40-28, at the break, the Cardinals were unstoppable in the second half, shooting 60 percent from the field — but more impressively, nailing 24 of 27 free throw attempts, including 13 of 15 in the game's final three minutes.
"We were not ready to play in that first half," said Lovelace. "I don't know what it was, but we didn't come out with any intensity or focus. We just kind of went through the motions.
"But in the second half, these guys were refocused and determined — and it showed in their play," continued Lovelace, whose team outscored SJU 55-36 in the second half, including 31-19 to tie the game for the last time, 59-59, with 6:30 to play. "This team has come so far this year, this is just a fitting end for all the hard work that they have put in."
And no one deserved a better season finale than Kloak, who came into the game averaging just 6.0 ppg and had scored in double figures just three times — his previous-best offensive output being a 13-point night vs Concordia on Feb. 9.
"Dan has worked his tail off all season," praised Lovelace of his sophomore forward. "Every practice, every game, every team meeting — he's always been there giving 100 percent."
And as Kloak went Monday, so went the Cardinals.
"Everyone just fed off him tonight," said Lovelace, who also got 12 points from Steve Feller (Iron Ridge, Wis.) and 11 each from Jeff Tendall (LeClaire, Iowa) and Terrence Smith (Broadview, Ill.). "I said at the beginning of the year that we would measure our season's success from mid-January on. We started out the conference season 0-6, and went 6-8 the rest of the way. Even better than that, the second time through the (conference schedule) we were 5-5.
"I have felt all along that we have made such great progress, and that's why beating Augsburg (last Saturday) and St. John's (on Monday) was so important to us," said Lovelace. "We wanted to set the tone for next season, and we didn't want to do that by limping into the off-season (with a season-ending loss).
"There could not have been a better ending to this season than this."
