Box Score Game Summary / GameDay Preview

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's basketball team, which didn't get the end result it was hoping for in a conference-opening 63-54 loss to Augsburg on Wednesday, took out its frustrations on Macalester Saturday, as the Cardinals rallied late en route to an 87-80 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over the Scots at Leonard Center.

With the win, Cardinal coach Todd Landrum improved to 5-0 against the Scots. Beating Macalester, however, has been anything but easy during his three years at the helm for SMU.

The Cardinals — who won their first three meetings under Landrum against Macalester by a combined 10 points, before collecting a 78-60 win in their second meeting last season — found themselves in another hotly contested matchup with the Scots Saturday.

After battling to a 35-35 deadlock after the game's opening 20 minutes, the Scots came out with the hot hand to open the second half, outscoring SMU 18-8 to take a 10-point, 53-43 lead with 14:54 remaining.

The Cardinals quickly answered, scoring 19 of the game's next 27 points to take the lead for good, 62-61, with 8:01 left in regulation. SMU would push its lead to as many as 12 in the final eight minutes, before settling for the seven-point victory.

Will Wright (Chicago, Ill.) and Lukas Holland (La Crosse, Wis.) led the way for the Cardinal offense, scoring 29 and 23 points, respectively, while Michael Burfeind (Lewiston, Minn.) chipped in 10 points. Wright knocked down 9 of 16 attempts from the field — including three, 3-pointers, while Holland was 8-for-12 from the field with a pair of treys.

Justin Wasik scored 20 points, and Pierce Peters chipped in a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Scots.

The Cardinals (1-1 MIAC, 3-1 overall) are right back in action on Monday, playing host to Bethel in a 7:30 p.m. conference contest at the SMU Gym.