MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Brensley Haywood (Joliet, Ill.) is going to miss a lot of things about college life and collegiate basketball, but there's one thing the Saint Mary's University senior is going to miss more than anything else — playing Augsburg.

A year ago, the Cardinal men's basketball team swept its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference series against the Auggies, winning 61-56 and 84-71 — with Haywood leading the charge, scoring 22 points in the first win and 17 in the second.

In their first meeting this season, Haywood was at his best again, netting a team-high 18 points in an 83-73 setback.

And the Cardinal senior was just getting warmed up.

Haywood saved his best for last, erupting for a career-high 31 points in leading SMU to an 80-68 victory over the Auggies.

"This was a big win for us," said SMU coach Mike Trewick, whose team snapped a three-game losing streak with the win. "We shot ourselves in the foot in terms of the (MIAC) playoffs a little bit over the past couple of games, but a win like this keeps us in the hunt.

"We knew coming in that we couldn't afford another letdown — and Brensley just took it upon himself to throw us on his shoulders and carry us."

Haywood was unstoppable from beyond the 3-point line, draining 6 of 8 from beyond the arc — including three treys during a 12-0 run that helped SMU take a 39-30 advantage at the half.

Augsburg battled back early in the second half, cutting the SMU lead to 42-41 with a 12-2 run to start the half, then took a one-point, 53-52 advantage with 10:14 remaining in regulation.

That however, was the last time the Auggies would lead — Haywood made sure of that.

Haywood scored six points during a 10-2 SMU run that gave SMU a 10-point, 75-65 cushion with 43 seconds remaining.

"Brensley played exceptionally well, but we also got solid performances from a number of other players, too," said Trewick, who also got 12 points from Michael Batterman (Fond du Lac, Wis.) and 11 from Dan Cormier (Blaine, Minn.). "This was a game we needed to win, no question about that.

"Now, we have seven (conference) wins and St. Olaf (currently holding down the sixth and final playoff spot) has eight, so we've put ourselves in position to make a run over the last week of the season.

"But now we've got to keep things going — we've got to go out and take care of what we can control, and that's how we play. We do that, and, hopefully when all is said and done, we'll still be playing after next weekend."