Game Summary
WINONA, Minn. — Shawn Stimmel has seen the movie.
He liked it when it was first released on the big screen, and he enjoyed seeing it a couple of times on VHS and on cable TV.
But when Stimmel replaced Bill Murray as the main character in the Cardinals' real-life version of Groundhog Day, he didn't find it nearly as entertaining.
"It's like reliving the same day over and over again — just like in the movie," admitted Stimmel, after his Cardinals once again proved to be their own worst enemy in falling to Gustavus 74-43 Saturday afternoon at the SMU Gym. "Gustavus is a very good team, and we knew coming in that we were going to have our hands full.
"We did not do a very good job taking care of the basketball," continued Stimmel, whose team dropped its season-high third straight. "You just can't turn the ball over the way we did and expect to compete with a team like Gustavus — or any team in the MIAC."
The Cardinals, who turned the ball over 26 times in Wednesday's 63-45 loss to St. Olaf, were once again in a giving mood on Saturday, as Gustavus forced SMU into a season-high 37 turnovers — turning the Cardinals' miscues into 31 points — and cruised to the lopsided win.
"It's the same old story — turnovers are killing us right now," said Stimmel. "I thought we did a much better job today of getting good looks at the basket and taking good shots, but when you turn the ball over 37 times it's pretty tough to stay in games, much less win them."
Gustavus, led by Jess Vadnais' 17 first-half points, netted as many points in the opening 20 minutes as SMU managed in the game, jumped out to a 43-21 lead at the half, then outscored the Cardinals 31-22 over the final 20 minutes to secure the win.
Jess Weisbrod (Rollingstone, Minn.) netted a team-high 12 points for SMU, while Vadnais finished with 21 points and Bri Monahan added 13 for the Gusties.
"Despite the final score, there were plenty of things that I thought we did much better today that we did against St. Olaf," said Stimmel. "We've got to keep working hard and striving to improve game-by-game, and, hopefully, the positive results will follow."
