MANKATO, Minn. — If Saint Mary's University men's basketball coach Mike Trewick needed to pinpoint why his Cardinals are heading into the Christmas break with a 2-5 overall record, he need to look no further than SMU's opposition.
Heading into Saturday's nonconference game against Minnesota State University-Mankato, the Cardinals' first four losses came against opponents that boasted a combined 24-5 overall record.
Make that a 34-5 overall, as the Mavericks won their eighth straight and pushed their overall record to 10-1, getting a game-high 21 points from Luke Anderson en route to a 79-57 nonconference victory over SMU.
"Tonight's game can only help us later on — just like the games we've already played," said Trewick, whose team has now lost to Winona State, currently the defending NCAA Division II national champions and a perfect 9-0 this season, as well UW-Eau Claire (3-3 overall). St. Thomas (6-0 overall), Saint John's (5-0 overall) and Mankato State (10-1 overall). "Playing against teams like Winona State, St. Thomas and Saint John's were good learning experiences — and I don't think we beat Hamline (last Wednesday) had we not played those games first."
The Cardinals, who snapped a 13-game road losing streak with their last-second 89-87 win over Hamline last Wednesday, were no match for the host Mavericks, as Minnesota State jumped out to a 12-point, 34-22 halftime advantage and slowly pulled away over the game's final 20 minutes.
MSU scored 19 of the first 25 points in the second half in snapping SMU's two-game winning streak.
"I thought we played great defense in the first half and hung with them pretty well," said Trewick, who got a team-high 18 points from
Brensley Haywood (Joliet, Ill.) and a season-high 14 from
Terrence Smith (Broadview, Ill.). "But in the second half, (MSU) made that early run and all of the sudden everyone thought they could get us back in the game by trying to do it all themselves, and before you know it, we were down by 32.
"When we work as a team and not a bunch of individuals, we are a very good team — a team that can play with anyone. That's the lesson we learned playing a team as good as Mankato State."
