vs.
57		91

Game Summary / GameDay Online

MANKATO, Minn. — The first time the Saint Mary's University men's basketball team squared off against an NCAA Division II team, the Cardinals managed just 53 points in a 118-53 loss to Winona State in their season-opener on Nov. 17.

Saturday afternoon, the Cardinals once again squared off against an NCAA Division II squad — and this time, the Cardinals' offense improved by four points.

Problem was, 57 points wasn't nearly enough.

Minnesota State-Mankato broke open an 11-point game with 48 second-half points in handing SMU its eighth straight loss to open the season, 91-57.

"We stayed right with them for the first half, and then in the second, we couldn't seem to buy a basket — and (Minnesota State) couldn't seem to miss," said SMU coach Mike Trewick, whose team trailed 43-32 at the half, but shot just 27 percent from the field (9-for-33) — and was just 4 of 14 from behind the 3-point line — in managing just 25 second-half points. "You can't compete against a team like (Minnesota State) and shoot that poorly from the field.

"We did some good things out there, we just struggled with our shooting in the final 20 minutes."

It didn't help that Minnesota State swatted away 12 of SMU's field goal attempts, as the Mavericks equaled a school record with 12 blocks. The only other time MSU has registered 12 blocks in a victory, came on Dec. 19, 2004, against Minnesota State University-Moorhead.

Dan Cormier (Blaine, Minn.) scored a team-high 15 points for the Cardinals, while Josh Knights (Plainfield, Wis.) and Will Wright (Chicago, Ill.) each added 11. It was just the third time in SMU's eight games that Wright has not scored 20 or more points, and snapped a string of four straight 20-plus point performances for the SMU freshman.

Minnesota State was led by Atila Santos, who finished with his fourth double-double of the season, tallying 19 points and 11 rebounds. Jake Morrow finished with 13 points, while Jadee Jones and Marcus Hill finished with 13 and 11 points respectively.

"(Minnesota Sate) is a good team — I'd say they are on par with Winona State," said Trewick, whose team returns to action Jan. 29, traveling to Chicago, Ill., for a nonconference game against NCAA Division I Loyola. "I thought we gave them a pretty good game for 20 minutes — now we've got to figure out a way to play at the same level in the second half as in the first half.

"If we can do that, we'll be all right."