ST. PETER, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University and Gustavus men's basketball teams found themselves on opposite ends of the shooting spectrum Monday evening.
In the first half, the Gusties came out with the hot hand, shooting 54 percent from the field in the game's opening 20 minutes, while the Cardinals were frigid from the field and never seemed to warm up in falling behind by as many as 24 points in the first half.
In the second half, the roles were reversed — and the Cardinals nearly pulled off a comeback for the ages.
Trailing by 23, 47-24, at the break, SMU erupted for 53 second-half points, and had a chance at a three-pointer at the buzzer that would have tied the game, but
Lukas Holland's (La Crosse, Wis.) trey went in-and-out, allowing Gustavus to hang on for an 80-77 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory.
“It was an unbelievable second half,” said SMU coach Todd Landrum. “I told the guys at half that we had to go out (in the second half) and play as hard as we could — and that's exactly what we did. We pressed and ran the entire second half. I could not have asked for anything more from this group of guys.
“It would have been so easy for them to pack it in after that first half,” Landrum added. “But there's no quit in this group. They played so hard and gave such a tremendous effort in the second half, it's just too bad they couldn't get the win for their effort.”
The Cardinals couldn't seem to do anything right in the first half, shooting just 34 percent from the field, while the Gusties could do no wrong en route to what appeared to be a commanding 23-point advantage.
GAC continued to sizzle in the second half, shooting 59 percent from the field (13-for-22), but as good as the Gusties were, the Cardinals were even better, knocking down 17 of their 25 second-half field goal attempts and making 16 of 18 free throws in outscoring GAC 53-33 over the game's final 20 minutes.
The Gusties held a 15-point, 68-53 lead with nine minutes remaining, before SMU made its final push, using a 22-8 run to make it a one-point game, 76-75, with 18 seconds remaining. Gustavus would sandwich four free throws around a pair of charity tosses by Holland to take an 80-77 advantage, and Landrum and the Cardinals could only watch as Holland's buzzer-beater would refuse to fall.
Will Wright (Chicago, Ill.) scored a game-high 22 points in the losing effort for SMU, which lost in conference play for the first time this season.
Chris Palmer (Faribault, Minn.) added 18 points for the Cardinals (2-1 MIAC, 4-3 overall), while Jesse Van Sickle scored21 points to lead four GAC players in double figures.
“It was in and just wouldn't stay down,” said Landrum of Holland's last-second attempt. “It's disappointing to lose a game like this — especially after how well we played in the second half.
“We just couldn't dig ourselves all the way out of that hole.”
