Game Summary vs. St. Olaf / GameDay Online / Photo Gallery

WINONA, Minn. — Heading into Saturday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference showdown with St. Olaf, the Saint Mary's University men's basketball team was riding its first two-game winning streak of the season.

Thanks in large part to the play of sophomores Will Wright (Chicago, Ill.) and Lukas Holland (La Crosse, Wis.).

Holland scored 21 points and Wright added 15 in SMU”s 80-71 win over Hamline on Jan. 7, and Wright tallied 24 points and Holland chipped in 22 in the Cardinals' 77-58 triumph over Concordia on Wednesday.

And the two were at it again Saturday, with Wright pouring in a game-high 30 points, while Holland finished with 14.

Unfortunately, those two accounted for 44 of the team's 67 points, as St. Olaf used a balanced offensive attack in handing SMU a 71-67 conference setback at the SMU Gym.

SMU opened the game scoring eight of the first 12 points, but when St. Olaf's Aldred Jaryan nailed a 3-pointer with 14:19 left in the half to give the Oles an 11-10 lead, the Cardinals would find themselves playing catch-up the rest of the game.

The Oles — who would led by as many as 10 twice in the first half, before settling for an eight-point, 41-33 advantage at the break — opened up a 15-point, 52-37 cushion with 15:55 remaining in regulation.

Then the Cardinals went to work.

SMU would whittle that Ole lead down to five twice — the last at 59-54 on a 3-pointer by Wright with 8:25 on the clock. St. Olaf, however, would answer with back-to-back field goals to regain a nine-point, 63-64 advantage, then pushed its lead to 10, 67-57 with 1:27 remaining.

The Cardinals would make one final push, as Brad Knights (Plainfield, WIs.) nailed a 3-pointer with 17 seconds left to cut the gap to 71-65. Wright followed with a rebound put-back to make it a four-point game, 71-67, but SMU would run out of time in falling to 3-6 in the MIAC and 4-10 overall.

Wright, who scored 17 of his 30 points in the second half, knocked down 12 of 19 field goal attempts — including a 5-for-6 effort from behind the 3-point line, while Wright netted 12 of his 14 points in the opening 20 minutes.

Mark Torell and Jaryan each scored 16 points for the Oles, who finished with four players in double figures. Bobby Fong went 6-for-9 from the free throw line and finished with 14 points, while Stuart Neville chipped in 10 points.

The Cardinals are back in action Monday, traveling to Minneapolis, Minn., for a 7:45 p.m. conference contest against Augsburg.