Game Summary

WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's basketball team had its fair share of opportunities to put St. Olaf away during Wednesday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game.

Unfortunately, rather than put the final nail in the coffin early in the second half, the Cardinals decided to be the gracious hosts and let the Oles back into the game.

And St. Olaf made them pay.

The Oles climbed all the way out of a seven-point, 40-37 hole on a layup by Chad Norberg and never looked back, outscoring SMU 27-14 over the game's final 12 minutes in handing the Cardinals a 67-54 setback at the SMU Gym.

The Cardinals led by as many as seven points three times in the opening half — including a 7-0 run to take a 7-2 advantage to start the game — before settling for a one-point, 31-30 halftime advantage.

SMU again pushed its lead to seven, scoring nine of the first 12 points to open the second half — but from that point on, the Cardinals' sharpshooters ran out of bullets.

And the Oles were just getting warmed up.

St. Olaf, which got 15 points from Mark Bergstrom, 14 from Jon Butala and 12 from Jon Bain, led by as many as 13 in the game's final 12 minutes en route to its second MIAC win in five tries.

Dan Cormier (Blaine, Minn.) led the way for SMU, scoring a game-high 17 points, while Michael Batterman (Fond du Lac, Wis.) chipped in 11.