Game Summary vs. UST / GameDay Online / Photo Gallery

WINONA, Minn. — As if having to play St. Thomas — a team ranked No. 4 in the latest D3Hoops.com Top 25 poll, unbeaten in its first six games, and winners of 41 straight against the Cardinals wasn't enough, the Saint Mary's University men's basketball team had to face the Tommies on their worst shooting night of the season.

The Cardinals shot a dismal 7-for-16 from the field in the first half — and were even worse in the second (9-for-25) — were no match for the high-flying Tommies, as UST rolled to a 102-64 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory Wednesday evening at the SMU Gym.

“Wow,” said SMU coach Todd Landrum. “(St. Thomas) is a very good team and they certainly showed it tonight. Give them a lot of credit, they played great defense — and it's your defense that begins your offense. They just shut us down on one end, and turned up the heat on the other.

“They had a great one-two punch tonight.”

Lukas Holland (La Crosse, Wis.) scored a game-high 21 points for the Cardinals, who dropped their third straight in fall to 1-3 in the MIAC and 2-5 overall, while Will Wright (Chicago, Ill.) and Bradley Bruno (Chicago, Ill.) also scored in double figures for SMU, tossing in 14 and 10 points, respectively.

B.J. Viau scored a team-leading 17 points for UST, which had four players in double figures, and got at least three points from all 13 players who saw playing time. Alex Healy chipped in 14 points, while Anders Halvorsen added 13 and Brady Ervin finished with 11.

The Tommies put the game out of reach early, racing out to leads as big as 24 in the opening half, as UST shot 62 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes, knocking down 20 of 32 shots, including a pair of 3-pointers. SMU, meanwhile, made just 7 of 16 first-half field-goal attempts, and were 1-for-4 from behind the arc, as the Cardinals went into the locker room staring at a 49-28 halftime deficit.

And things just went from bad to worse over the final 20 minutes.

The Tommies “settled” for 19 second-half field goals on 39 attempts, but added a 12-for-16 showing from the free-throw line en route to their 53 second-half points, while SMU managed just 20 of its 36 second-half points from the field, getting the other 16 via a 16-for-23 effort from the charity stripe.

“Right now, they are just plain a better team than we are,” admitted Landrum, whose team is now off until Dec. 30, when the Cardinals travel to St. Cloud, Minn., for a 6 p.m. nonconference game against the NCAA Division II St. Cloud State Huskies. “But give our guys credit, despite the score, they never threw in the towel — they battled right to the end, and that's all we can ask of them.”