vs.
77		80

Game Summary / GameDay Online / Photo Gallery

WINONA, Minn. — The beginning of Saturday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against Saint John's was just what Saint Mary's University men's basketball coach Mike Trewick was hoping for.

The ending, however, is getting a little tiresome.

The Johnnies boasted four players in double figures and shot 64 percent from the field, as SJU overcome a 7-0 game-opening Cardinal run to beat SMU 80-77 at the SMU Gym.

The Cardinals raced out of the starting gate, pouring in the game's first seven points, while also holding eight-point leads on two separate occasions in the first half. In fact, the Cardinals only trailed twice, including 35-34 at the end of the game's opening 20 minutes.

Then came the second half.

Dan Cormier (Blaine, Minn.) made a pair of free throws to open play and give SMU a 36-35 lead — the last time the Cardinals would play from out front. The Johnnies responded with an 18-3 run to give SJU a 14-point cushion, 53-39, a lead they would equal when Aaron Burtzel scored two of his 19 points to give Saint John's a 60-46 lead with 13:36 to play.

Fueled by the hot hand of freshman Will Wright (Chicago, Ill.), the Cardinals chipped away at the lead, getting to within one point, 78-77 on a Wright 3-pointer with 22 seconds remaining in regulation.

That, however, would be as close the Cardinals would get, as Ryan Lieser made the front end of a pair of two-shot free throws and Lukas Holland's (La Crosse, Wis.) desperation three at the buzzer failed to connect.

Wright finished with a career-high 26 points, marking the third time in SMU's five games that the freshman has netted 20 or more points, while Holland chipped in 13. Lieser and Burtzel each netted 19 points, and Brady Brink and Schwartz added 17 each as the quartet accounted for 72 of the Johnnies' 80 points.