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WINONA, Minn. — If past history had any say, Wednesday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game between the Saint Mary's and St. Thomas men's basketball teams should have been a rout.

After all, in their first three games, the Cardinals and Tommies had faced one common opponent — Winona State. The Cardinals came out on the short end of a 118-53 decision against the NCAA Division II national power on Nov. 17, while the Tommies snapped the Warriors' 46-game regular-season winning streak with an 83-82 victory just five days ago.

And then there was SMU's 39-game winless streak vs. the Tommies.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, despite their best overall performance of the season, history repeated itself Wednesday, as the Tommies collected their 40th straight win vs. SMU, using a 26-19 run over the game's final 12 minutes en route to a 72-65 win at the SMU Gym.

"If we put forth that type of effort (at the Nebraska Wesleyan Tournament last weekend), we probably leave there with two wins," said SMU coach Mike Trewick. "There's no question this was the best performance we've had all season — and, hopefully, the guys finally realized how important it was for us to give 100 percent from start to finish."

Trewick credits a little pre-game film session on Tuesday for the Cardinals' dramatic turnaround.

"We got them all together and we watched film (of the Cardinals' first three games)," explained Trewick. "We showed them that when they went out their and played the way they wanted to play, they struggled,. But when they did the things we wanted them to do — when they played the way we wanted them to play — they were successful."

After struggling to just 27 first-half points, the Cardinals — who shot 40 percent from the field in the first half, but were just 2-for-10 from behind the 3-point line in falling behind 33-27 at the break — saw the Tommie lead climb to 10, 39-29 in the opening three minutes of the second half.

From there, however, SMU got hot, scoring 13 of the next 15 points to take a 42-41 advantage. The game would be tied twice more, the last time at 46-46, before the Tommies took the lead for good, 48-46, on basket by B.J. Viau with 12:26 remaining in regulation.

Will Wright (Chicago, Ill.) scored a game-high 21 points — marking the second time in his four-game collegiate career that he has netted 20 or more points — and Dan Cormier (Blaine, Minn.) chipped in 16 for the Cardinals, who are still searching for their first win of the season in falling to 0-4 overall. David Baker tossed in 15 points to lead four UST players in double figures. Tyler Nicolai and Joe Scott each chipped in 14 points, while Lonnie Robinson added 10 for the Tommies, who have now won three straight and four of their first five.

"There are no moral victories, but there's no doubt this was a much more positive performance," said Trewick, whose Cardinals (0-1 MIAC, 0-4 overall) return to action Saturday, playing host to Saint John's in a 3 p.m. conference game. "We're on the right track."