COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's basketball team hits the road Monday, traveling to Saint John's for a 7:30 p.m. conference showdown against the Johnnies.



The Matchup:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (0-2 MIAC | 0-6 Overall)
at Saint John's Johnnies (0-2 MIAC | 2-3 Overall)

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Last Action:
The Cardinals found themselves staring at an 11-point halftime deficit Saturday in their MIAC game against St. Olaf, and despite cutting the gap to four with six minutes remaining in regulation, they could not get over the hump, as the Oles scored nine of the final 11 points in a 67-56 Ole victory at the SMU Gym. … Saint John's, meanwhile, suffered its second conference loss of the season Saturday, dropping a 71-54 decision at Carleton Saturday.

SMU vs. Saint John's — A Year Ago:
January 17, 2011: Chris Palmer (Faribault, Minn.) missed out on his fifth straight double-double by one rebound, but the SMU sophomore's effort was not quite enough, as Saint John's broke away from a three-point halftime advantage in handing the Cardinals an 84-68 MIAC setback in Collegeville, Minn.
February 16, 2011: SMU shot 59 percent from the field and took a 38-31 lead into the break, but couldn't equal their torrid shooting from the field over the game's final 20 minutes, falling to the Johnnies 74-67 in an MIAC game at the SMU Gym.

Up Next:
The Cardinals are right back on the road on Saturday, as SMU heads to Moorhead, Minn., for a 7:45 p.m. conference contest against the Cobbers. … Saint John's, meanwhile, is off until next Monday, when the Johnnies host Martin Luther at 7:30 p.m. in Collegeville, Minn., in the first of back-to-back nonconference games.

Saint Mary's Cardinals News and Notes:
2011-12 Roster | 2011-12 Statistics | 2011-12 Schedule
Saturday's game against St. Olaf was the home opener for the Cardinals, who played their first five games away from the SMU Gym, and will play nine of their first 11 contests on the road. … Michael Burfeind (Lewiston, Minn.) scored a team-high 16 points in the Cardinals' loss to St. Olaf Saturday. … Fourteen of Burfeind's 16 points came in the second half, when he went 3-for-8 from the field and 8-for-9 from the free throw line. … Burfeind, who netted 24 and 21 points, respectively, at the UW-Oshkosh Thanksgiving Classic on Nov. 25-26, has scored 10 or more points five times this season. … Burfeind's 24-point effort against UW-Oshkosh on Nov. 25 was a career high. … LaMonte Hall (Minneapolis, Minn.) scored a career-best 15 points against the Oles Saturday. … Hall drained two of the team's three 3-pointers vs. the Oles. … Evan Pederson (Onalaska, Wis.) scored a career-high 14 points in the Cardinals' conference-opener against Carleton last Wednesday. … The Cardinals boasted five players — Burfeind (24), Pat Freeman (Brooklyn Park, Minn. / 13), LaMonte Hall (Minneapolis, Minn. / 12), Pederson (Onalaska, Wis. / 10) and Brandon Larsen (Rochester, Minn. / 10) — in double figures against UW-Oshkosh on Nov. 25. It was the first time since Feb. 10, 2010 that the Cardinals recorded five double-figure scorers in a game. … Burfeind enters Monday's game at Saint John's averaging a team-best 16.3 ppg, while Freeman is also averaging in double figures at 10.5 ppg. … Pederson has dished out a team-high 26 assists through six games, while Burfeind is tops in rebounds with 31 (5.2 rpg). … SMU dished out a season-high 15 assists in Saturday's game against St. Olaf. … As a team, the Cardinals committed just three turnovers vs. UW-Oshkosh on Nov. 25, the fewest since recording three turnovers against Augsburg on Feb. 10, 2007. … The Cardinals, who closed out the 2010-2011 season as the top free-throw shooting team in all of NCAA Division III — shooting a school-record .794 from the line (394-for-496) — are 109-for-140 (78 percent) from the line this season.  … SMU went to the free throw line a season-high 32 times against UW-Oshkosh on Nov. 25, converting on 28 of those 32.

Saint John's Johnnies News and Notes:
2011-12 Roster | 2011-12 Statistics | 2011-12 Schedule
Saturday's 71-54 loss at Carleton was the Johnnies' second straight setback. … All three of SJU's losses this season have come on the road. … SJU has scored 60 or more points in each of its two wins — 69-67 over St. Scholastica on Nov. 19 and 60-55 over UW-Stevens Point on Nov. 22. On the flip side, the Johnnies have been held under 60 points in all three of their losses — 67-58 at St. Cloud State, 60-45 at Augsburg and 71-54 at Carleton. … Carleton's 71 points Saturday were the most allowed by the Johnnies this season. … Seth Marx scored a career-high 19 points — including 17 in the second half — against Carleton Saturday. … Chris Neuman also enjoyed a career day vs. Carleton with 14 points off the bench. … With his season-high eight assists vs. Carleton, Any Burns moved into a tie with current assistant coach Pat McKenzie for fifth all-time with 305 career assists. … SJU made just one of its first seven shots and committed six turnovers in the game's opening 6:19 Saturday. … Marx enters Monday's game against Saint Mary's with a team-leading 11.4 ppg average. Aaron Barmore and Burns are also averaging in double figures heading into Monday's game at 10.8 ppg and 10.0 ppg, respectively. … Marx also leads the team in rebounds with 29 (5.8 rpg), while Barmore is shooting 93 percent from the free throw line (13-for-14). … Marx and Barmore have each led the team in scoring twice through SJU's first five games. … The Johnnies have been outscored 193-122 in the first half, while SJU has outscored its first five opponents 164-127 after halftime.