NORTHFIELD, Minn. — There was a loud screeching sound coming from the St. Olaf Fieldhouse Wednesday evening, and, unfortunately for the Saint Mary's University men's basketball team, it was exactly the sound they didn't want to hear.

St. Olaf scored the first six points of the second half and built leads as big as 12 points over the game's final 20 minutes, as the Cardinals' three-game winning streak came to a screeching halt with a 63-57 loss to the Oles.

As did SMU's climb up the MIAC ladder.

"The effort just wasn't there tonight," said SMU coach Mike Trewick, whose team entered Wednesday's game in a tie with St. Olaf and Carleton for fifth place in the chase for one of the MIAC's six playoff spots. "We need to be at the top of our game if we are going to be successful, and we just didn't have it tonight."

Trailing by 12, 60-48 with 4:01 remaining in regulation, before putting together an 8-0 run of their own to cut the gap to four, 60-56 with 49 seconds left. The Cardinals, however, missed their next three field goal attempts and the Oles knocked down three of four free throws to ice the win.

Brensley Haywood (Joliet, Ill.) scored a team-high 12 points for the Cardinals, who shot 42 percent from the field (20-for-47) — but hit just 7 of 19 3-pointers. Mark Bergstrom scored a game-high 22 points for the Oles, who won for the third straight time and took a one-game lead over the Cardinals in the teams' chase for an MIAC playoff berth.

"It's disappointing, because this is a team we are fighting with (for a playoff berth)," said Trewick. "We had such a huge week last week (going 3-0), it wasn't out of the question that we were in for a bit of a letdown.

"But at this stage in the season, a letodwn is the one thing you can't afford to have."