Game Summary

ST. PETER, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's basketball team has struggled on the road this season.

But the Cardinals' 1-8 record on the road heading into Saturday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game was nothing compared to SMU's struggles on the road — at Gustavus.

The Cardinals headed into St. Peter, Minn., winless in their last 22 games on the Gusties' home floor, dating back to an 86-82 overtime win on Dec. 12, 1982 — and they exited winless in their last 23.

Gustavus scored the game's first 11 points and never looked back, as the Gusties cruised to an 82-42 conference win over the Cardinals — handing SMU its worst defeat of the season.

"From the minute we stepped off the bus, we weren't ready to play," said SMU coach Mike Trewick, whose team dropped its second straight, and hasn't won a road game since a 61-56 win at Augsburg to open the MIAC season on Dec. 3, 2005. "We just did not play well, period.

"Gustavus is very good team, and we don't match up well against them," continued Trewick. "They're not 40 points better than we are, but today, they definitely were the better team."

Gustavus took control from the opening tip, jumping out to an 11-0 lead in the game's first five minutes and led by 16, 37-21, by halftime.

And things didn't get any better in the second half, as Gustavus outscored SMU 28-9 in the opening 10 minutes — hitting 10 of 15 field goals — and never led by less than 33 the rest of the way.

"We've struggled on the road all season, but today, it didn't matter if we were at home or on the road — we just did not play well," said Trewick, who got a team-high 13 points from Mike Sweeney (St. Paul, Minn.) and Terrence Smith (Broadview, Ill.). "There's still a lot of basketball left to be played, and we've got to figure out a way to play on the road with the same energy and intensity that we do at home (where the Cardinals are 7-2)."