Game Summary

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — All season long, slow starts have plagued the Saint Mary's University men's basketball team — which has forced the Cardinals to play catch-up time and time again.

And, unfortunately for the Cardinals, Thursday's nonconference game against UW-Eau Claire in the opening round of the Blugold Holiday Classic was no different.

The Blugolds scored the game's first seven points, led by eight at the half, boasted a 17-point, 61-44 advantage with 11 minutes remaining in the second half and then held off a late SMU rally to hand the Cardinals a 76-66 setback.

The Cardinals, who had not played since a 70-58 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference loss to Concordia on Dec. 7, will take on Northland in Friday's third-place game, while the Blugolds will take on Finlandia — 71-54 winners over the Lumberjacks in Thursday's other semifinal game — in Fridya's title game.

"I don't know what it is, but we can't seem to get ourselves going until we're behind and they feel that sense of urgency," said SMU coach Mike Trewick. "Once we got going, we played very well — it's just that, by that time, we're staring at a 10- or 12-point hole.

"If we can find a way to get past those first five or six minutes of the half, we could be dangerous."

Terrence Smith (Broadview, Ill.) led the Cardinals' offensive attack, scoring a team-high 15 points and adding 10 rebounds in posting his first double-double of the season. Brenlsey Haywood (Joliet, Ill.) and Michael Rohr (Bloomingdale, Ill.) each tallied 12 points, while Mike Sweeney (St. Paul, Minn.) chipped in 11 for SMU (3-4 overall).

After giving up the game's first seven points, SMU chipped the Blugolds' lead to three, 23-20 on a 3-pointer from Haywood, but that was as close as the Cardinals would get, as UW-Eau Claire used a 16-11 run over the final five minutes of the first half to take a 39-31 lead into the locker room at the break.

The Blugolds picked up right where they left off in the second half, taking a page from their first-half performance by scoring the first seven points to take a commanding 46-31 advantage. UW-EC pushed that lead to 17, 61-44 midway through the second half and never looked back in winning for the seventh time in 10 games this season.