ST. PETER, Minn. — A week ago, the Saint Mary's University men's basketball team was uttering a word that hasn't been a part of their vocabulary in over 20 years — playoffs.

Heading into Wednesday's game against St. Olaf, the Cardinals were tied for fifth with St. Olaf and Carleton for fifth in the race for the sixth Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference playoff spots.

A 63-57 loss to the Oles — and Saturday's disappointing 72-61 setback at the hands of Gustavus — however, has left the Cardinals a little tongue-tied.

"We knew heading into the St. Olaf game that this was going to be a crucial stretch for us in terms of making the (MIAC) playoffs," said Trewick, whose team dropped to 6-10 in the MIAC and are currently a half game back of Carleton and Macalester for the sixth and final playoff spot. "We knew that if we could win out, we'd be in.

"Now, our backs are to the wall."

And, Trewick added, the Cardinals have no one to blame but themselves for Saturday's loss.

"Turnovers killed us," said Trewick, noting that the Cardinals turned the ball over 16 times — on five of their last nine possessions in the first half, and one five of their first seven possessions to start the second half. "We were our own worst enemy. We had two key stretches there — to end the first half and start the second — where we let Gustavus take control of the game. Take away those 10 possessions, and it's a whole different ball game."

Brenlsey Haywood (Joliet, Ill.) netted a team-high 17 points to lead four SMU players in doubles figures. John Gencius (Chicago, Ill.) chipped in 12 points, while Dan Cormier (Blaine, Minn.) and Michael Batterman (Fond du Lac, Wis.) tallied 11 and 10 points, respectively.

"It's disappointing, because we controlled our own destiny," said Trewick of the team's last two losses. "We play the way we are capable of playing, and there's no question we could have come away with two wins.

"But we didn't do that — we played a little flat, and it cost us. We aren't out of (the playoff picture) by any stretch of the imagination — we've just made it a little tougher on ourselves."