WINONA, Minn. —
Will Wright (Chicago, Ill.) has been near-perfect at the free throw line this season, entering Saturday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball contest against Bethel having made 28 of 32 attempts through five games.
The Saint Mary's University junior was near-perfect again Saturday, knocking down 5 of 6 from the charity stripe en route to his team-leading 16 points in the Cardinals' 76-61 victory over the Royals at the SMU Gym.
And, while the Cardinals needed all of Wright's 16 points en route to their second straight conference victory, none were more special than the two free throws he tossed in with 12 minutes remaining in the first half.
After scoring five points in the game's opening eight minutes, a 3-pointer that gave SMU an 11-9 lead, and a driving layup less than a minute later to make it a 13-11 Cardinal advantage, Wright went to the line — needing two points to become the 25th player in SMU history to reach 1,000 points.
Wright calmly drained the first — then the second — to reach the scoring milestone.
And give the Cardinals' a seven-point lead they would not relinquish.
SMU pushed its advantage to as many as 19, 45-26, before settling for a 13-point, 45-32 cushion at the halftime break.
The Cardinals, who shot a blistering 63 percent from the field in the game's opening 20 minutes — going 17-for-27 — knocked down 10 of their 25 second-half field goal attempts and never let the Royals back in the game in improving to 4-2 overall with their second straight win.
Along with Wright's team-best 16 points, the Cardinals also got double-figure scoring from
Lukas Holland (La Crosse, Wis.),
Chris Palmer (Faribault, Minn.) and
Tim Kunkel (Northfield, Minn.). The trio tossed in 15, 12 and 10 points, respectively, while Palmer also added a team-leading 10 rebounds for his first collegiate double-double.
Chris Vavra scored a game-high 21 points and Eric Hugoson netted 11 in the losing effort for Bethel (0-2 MIAC, 2-3 overall).
The Cardinals are right back in action on Monday, traveling to Gustavus for a 7:30 p.m. conference contest against the Gusties.
