Game Summary
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's basketball team entered Saturday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against St. Thomas in the midst of one of their best starts in more than two decades.
Unbeaten in their last two games (a 69-56 win over Saint John's last Saturday and an 85-77 triumph over Hamline on Wednesday) and winners of four of their last four, the Cardinals were eager for a shot at the league-leading Tommies — and a chance to end UST's 35-game winning streak against them.
It was supposed to be the Cardinals' coming-out party.
But the Tommies had to rain on their parade.
And when it rained, it poured — basket after basket.
St. Thomas erupted for 55 second-half points — seven short of the Cardinals' total for the game — as the Tommies pushed that winning streak to 36 straight and moved two games in front of SMU in the MIAC race with a 98-62 victory.
"St. Thomas is a very good team, and they proved that this afternoon," said SMU coach Mike Trewick. "We've been playing very well of late and it's almost expected that eventually, you are going to have an off night.
"Today, we were a little off."
Michael Batterman (Fond du Lac, Wis.) led the way for the Cardinals — who have not beaten St. Thomas since an 86-78 on Jan. 11, 1988, and have not won at UST's Schoenecker Arena since a 41-39 decision on Feb. 14, 1987 — netting a team-high 14 points, while Terrence Smith (Broadview, Ill.) chipped in 13.
UST's Bryan Schnettler scored 19 of his game-high 30 points — his second straight 30-point effort — during a pivotal 27-9 mid-game run that powered the Tommies to the win.
St. Thomas shot 63 percent from the field in the first-half (15 of 24), jumped out to a 6-0 lead on three straight baskets by Isaac Rosefelt, who finished with 25 points. SMU battled back to tie the game at 19-19 and later pulled to within two, 34-32 with 3:32 remaining in the first half on a jumper by Mike Sweeney (St. Paul, Minn.).
That, however, would be as close as SMU would get as the Tommies closed out the first half on a 9-0 run — including seven straight points from Schnettler — and never looked back.
"That late (first-half run) was the difference in the ball game. We got to within two (34-32) and missed a layup to tie it — and they get on that roll to end the half" said Trewick, whose team returns to action on Monday, when they play host to Carleton in another MIAC game. "It's frustrating to give up 98 points, but we told the guys after the game that they have to treat this game the same we way did after the Gustavus (loss) — we got our butt kicked in that one and bounced right back.
"We have to do the same thing this time around," continued Trewick. "This one's over — you learn from it and move on."
