ARDEN HILLS, Minn. — If the Saint Mary's University men's basketball team proved anything Saturday afternoon, it's that no matter how deep the hole, the Cardinals are never going to stop clawing their way out.
The Cardinals found themselves staring up from the bottom of a 15-point hole Saturday afternoon at halftime of their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against Bethel.
With 30 seconds remaining in regulation, SMU nearly climbed all the way out, as
Chris Palmer (Faribault, Minn.) knocked down a free throw to get the Cardinals to within one, 80-79.
That, however, would be as close as they would get, as Bethel sank a pair of free throws in the waning seconds to hold off the hard-charging Cardinals 82-79.
The two teams traded baskets early, with SMU holding an early 8-6 lead after the game's first five minutes. An 11-2 Bethel run, however, turned that two-point Cardinal lead into a 10-point, 22-12, deficit. SMU pulled back to within three, 22-19 with a 7-0 run of its own, and trailed by just five, 33-28, with 5:50 remaining in the opening half. Over the final 5:50, however, Bethel outscored the Cardinals 15-5 to take its 15-point lead into the locker room at the break.
The Cardinals methodically cut the gap to six, 62-56, with 7:07 remaining, but still trailed by 11, 77-66, with 2:15 left in regulation. Baskets by
Michael Burfeind (Lewiston, Minn.) and
Will Wright (Chicago, Ill.) — sandwiched around four made SMU free throws — got SMU to seven, 79-72.
And SMU was just getting warmed up.
After Bethel's Greg Meyer made a free throw to push the lead to six, 80-72, the Cardinals would score seven unanswered points — capped by a three-point play from Palmer with 28 seconds remaining that got the Cardinals to within one, 80-79.
That, however, would be as close as SMU would get, as the Royals' Daniel Baah iced the win with a pair of charity tosses with 20 seconds left.
Palmer finished with a team-high 19 points — going 11-for-12 from the free throw line — and added nine rebounds, while Wright added 16 points and
Lukas Holland (La Crosse, Wis.) chipped in 10.
Nate Robertson netted a game-high 27 points to lead four Bethel players in double figures, with Chris Vavra, Meyer and Baah pitching in 13, 12 and 11 points, respectively.
The Cardinals (4-8 MIAC, 6-11 Overall) are back in action on Wednesday, playing host to Gustavus in a 7:30 p.m. conference contest at the SMU Gym.
