Game Summary

MANKATO, Minn. — Saint Mary's University men's basketball coach Mike Trewick got a glimpse at just what his Cardinals were capable of Friday evening against Bethany Lutheran.

Both good — and bad.

The Cardinals weren't very good in the first half of their nonconference game against the Vikings, making just 7 of 29 attempts from the field in falling behind by 20, 42-22, at the break.

Over the final 20 minutes, however, the Cardinals were very good, knocking down shots at a 58 percent clip (18 of 31) en route to a 52-point second half performance.

Unfortunately, the Cardinals' stellar second-half effort wasn't quite enough as SMU's dismal first-half hole proved to be a little too deep to dig out of as they dropped their season-opener 80-74.

"It's disappointing, because we did play so well in the second half," said Trewick. "It's pretty tough to win too many games when you fall behind by 20 in the first half.

"I thought we did some good things in the second half, but as good as we were in the second half, we were that bad in the first."

After giving up six of the game's first eight points, Fiore Buccieri (Riverside, Ill.) nailed a 3-pointer to cut the Vikings' lead to 6-5. From there, however, Bethany Lutheran netted 14 of the next 19 points and built its lead as big as 22, 42-20, before Eric Lear (Antoich, Ill.) hit a jumper at the buzzer to make it a 42-22 game at the half.

"We just did not come out ready to play — we didn't rebound and we didn't play defense," said Trewick, who got a team-high 17 points from Michael Batterman (Fond du Lac, Wis.), and also got double-figure scoring from Terrence Smith (Broadview, Ill. / 15 points) and Michael Rohr (Bloomingdale, Ill.). "We turned things around in the second half, which was good to see, but if we are going to be competitive – especially in the MIAC — we've got to play that way for the entire 40 minutes."