Game Summary vs. Hamline / GameDay Online

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's basketball team entered Wednesday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against Hamline playing the role of spoiler.

And they turned in an Academy Award-winning performance.

Bradley Bruno (Chicago, Ill.) scored a career-high 23 points and led five Cardinals in double figures, as SMU rolled to an 84-74 conference win over the Pipers.

“We had a great two days of practice and it carried over into the game,” said SMU coach Todd Landrum, whose team snapped a five-game losing streak with their 10-point, 84-74 conference win — a win that completed a two-game conference sweep of the Pipers. “This was a total team effort — we got outstanding contributions from a number of players.

“(Hamline) came into this came still clinging to a hope of making the conference tournament, and our guys stepped up and took that away from them. This was a very satisfying win, and I couldn't be happier for the guys.”

Bruno went 5-for-8 from the field  — including a pair of 3-pointers — and was 11-for-15 from the free throw line en route to his game- and career-high 23 points. Lukas Holland (La Crosse, Wis.) chipped in 18 points — 14 of which came from the free throw line, where the sophomore was 14-for-18 — while Eric Burrough (St. Paul, Minn.) added 12 points and Will Wright (Chicago, Ill.) and Pat Freeman (Champlin, Minn.) added 11 and 10 points, respectively.

The Cardinals raced out to a 35-27 first-half advantage and never looked back in posting its fifth conference win, while moving to 6-16 overall.

“We've really been playing much better of late, we seem to be coming around,” added Landrum, whose team returns to action Saturday, traveling to Northfield, Minn., for a 3 p.m. conference contest against St. Olaf. “The guys definitely got paid for their work tonight.”