WINONA, Minn. — For the first 15 minutes of Monday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against Carleton, the Saint Mary's University men's basketball team matched the Knights shot-for-shot, and was clinging to a 32-31 advantage with 4:32 remaining in the opening half.
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the final 4:32 was nothing like the first 15:28, as Carleton closed the half on a 14-2 run — including 11 straight points to end the half — and never looked back in handing SMU an 80-63 setback at the SMU Gym.
“Give Carleton credit, they played a great game,” said SMU coach Todd Landrum. “We did not come out and play well at all, and that's disappointing.”
The Cardinals tried to bounce back from that half-ending Knight run, scoring 10 of the first 13 points to open the second half to cut the Carleton lead to four, 48-44.
That, however, would be as close as SMU would get, as the Knights sandwiched runs of 14-6 and 8-0 around a 7-0 Cardinal run over the game's final 11 minutes to seal the win.
Will Wright (Chicago, Ill.) scored a team-high 18 points and
Lukas Holland (La Crosse, Wis.) added 14 for the Cardinals, who shot 44 percent (23-for-52) from the field. Seth Jonker scored a game-high 29 points to lead the way for Carleton.
The Cardinals, who fall to 2-3 in the MIAC and 4-6 overall, return to action Wednesday, traveling to Hamline for a 7:30 p.m. conference contest.
