vs.
44		71

Game Summary / GameDay Online

WINONA, Minn. — Over the past week, the Saint Mary's University men's basketball team has struggled to shut down opposing offenses. Augsburg and Bethel torched the Cardinals for 96 and 98 points, respectively in SMU's last two games.

Yet, while opposing offenses have made the Cardinals look like swiss cheese, SMU's offense has done all it could, netting 71 points against the Auggies and 79 against the Royals.

Sunday afternoon turned out to be role-reversal day for the Cardinals.

And that wasn't a good thing.

SMU held Concordia to just 71 points — including 31 over the game's final 20 minutes. Unfortunately, on the offensive end,, the Cardinals were ice-cold, shooting just 29 percent from the field, scoring a meager 19 second-half points and struggling to a season-low 44 points.

The end result — a 71-44 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference loss to the Cobbers at the SMU Gym.

If the start of Sunday's game was any indication, SMU coach Mike Trewick new early that it was going to be a long afternoon, as the Cardinals managed just 12 points through the game's first 13 minutes, as Concordia used a 15-3 run to take a 37-12 lead with just over seven minutes remaining in the half.

The Cardinals showed some signs of life over those final seven minutes, outscoring the Cobbers 13-3 to cut the lead to 15, 40-25, at the break.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, as bad as things were in the first half, they were even worse in the second, as SMU hnit just 7 of 26 field-goal attempts in the final 20 minutes in falling for the fifth straight time.

Will Wright (Chicago, Ill.) and Lukas Holland (La Crosse, Wis.) led the way for SMU (1-9 MIAC, 1-14 overall), scoring 10 points each, while Luke Linz's game-high 14 points and seven boards led the way for Concordia (6-4 MIAC, 7-8 overall).

The Cardinals kick off the second half of the conference schedule on Wednesday, traveling to St. Thomas — 72-65 winners over SMU on Nov. 28 — for a 7:30 p.m. game.