MOORHEAD, Minn. — Saint Mary's University men's basketball coach Mike Trewick put it best after last Saturday's disappointing 83-73 loss to Augsburg:

"We have got to find a way to hang on to the lead after halftime," he said. "The first half hasn't been the problem, it's sealing the deal that has been our Achilles' heel."

Consider it sealed.

SMU found itself with a 13-point halftime advantage vs. Concordia Wednesday evening — the fourth time in the last six games that the Cardinals led at halftime.

Unlike the first three, however, the Cardinals were able to hold on this time around.

Barely.

The Cardinals saw a 12-point lead with 4:23 remaining whittled down to five with 46 seconds remaining. But John Gencius (Chicago, Ill.) naiiled a clutch 3-pointer and Brensley Haywood (Joliet, Ill.) and Michael Batterman (Fond du Lac, Wis.) each netted a pair of free throws down the stretch to ice SMU's 79-67 win — and snap a season-high five-game losing streak.

"This was a good win — on the road," said Trewick, whose team moved to 3-7 in the MIAC and 4-10 overall. "It's always tough to come up here (to Moorhead) and play, and the guys did a nice job.

"Going 3-7 in the first half of the (conference) season isn't exactly what we had hoped for, but we are getting better every day."

The Cardinals could do no wrong in the first half, knocking down 14 of their 25 first-half field goals, including nine 3-pointers, en route to a season-high 42-point first-half offensive outburst.

Haywood led the Cardinals' charge, scoring a season-high 20 points — marking the ninth time in SMU's 14 games that the SMU senior has scored in double figures. Gencius chipped in 12 points for the Cardinals, who picked up their first win since a 76-61 win over Nebraska-Wesleyan on Dec. 28, 2006, while Luke Linz popped in a game-high 28 points in the losing effort for Concordia.

"We shot the ball well all night, but especially in the first half," said Trewick, whose team begins Round 2 of the MIAC season on Saturday, playing host to St. Thomas. "Hopefully we can use this game as a spring board into the second half of the season."