WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's basketball team got double-figure scoring from three players — including a game-high 19 points from
Will Wright (Chicago, Ill.) and a double-double of 13 points and 12 rebounds from
Chris Palmer (Faribault, Minn.), but it was not quite enough, as Augsburg built a 14-point second-half lead and held off a late SMU run to beat the Cardinals 73-66 in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game at the SMU Gym.
“We started the game with poor offensive execution, which put us in hole,” said SMU coach Todd Landrum. “We fought back (in the second half) and then just couldn't get the stops when we needed them.”
The Cardinals got out to a quick start, scoring six of the game's first eight points, but the Auggies came storming back, scoring five unanswered points to take the lead, 7-6. SMU would pull even, 20-20, with 5:57 remaining in the opening half, but the Auggies would close the half on an 11-5 run to take a 31-25 advantage into the locker room at the break.
After Andy Grzesiak-Grimm knocked down a free throw to push the Augsburg lead to 32-25, but Cardinals' offense came to life, scoring seven straight points on a pair of baskets by Wright and a 3-pointer by Holland, ti pull SMU even at 32-32. A Holland layup would give the Cardinals a 34-32 edge, but the Auggies would respond with a 31-19 run over the next 13 minutes to build their biggest lead of the game, 65-51, with four minutes remaining in regulation.
Led by the shooting of Holland and Wright — who scored eight of the team's 11 points during an 11-2 SMU run — the Cardinals cut the gap to five, 67-62, with 1:53 on the clock. That, however, would be as close as they would get, as Augsburg made six free throws down the stretch to seal the win.
Wright scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half, hitting 7 of 11 field goals — including a 2-for-4 effort from behind the 3-point line, while Holland added 12 of his 14 points in the game's final 20 minutes. Palmer, who was named the MIAC's Player of the Week earlier in the day, picked up his third double-double in the Cardinals' last four games, pulling down four offensive rebounds and eight defensive boards to go with his 13 points.
Jon Cassens and Matthew Quammen each scored 13 points and David Olson added 12 for the Auggies (7-3 MIAC, 12-3 Overall).
The Cardinals (3-7 MIAC, 5-10 Overall) are back in action on Wednesday, playing host to Macalester in a 7:30 p.m. conference contest at the SMU Gym.
