WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's basketball team, coming off a big win over Carleton Wednesday, are back in action Saturday, hosting league-leading St. Thomas in a 3 p.m. MIAC game at the SMU Gym.



The Matchup:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (3-7 MIAC | 3-12 Overall)
vs. No. 20 St. Thomas Tommies (8-2 MIAC | 11-4 Overall)

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Last Action:
The Cardinals jumped out to a four-point halftime lead and made it stand up, holding off Carleton down the stretch for a 64-60 MIAC win Wednesday at the SMU Gym. … St. Thomas, meanwhile, got a game-winning filed goal from John Nance with five seconds remaining, lifting the Tommies to a 78-77 win over St. Olaf in Northfield, Minn., Wednesday.

SMU vs. St. Thomas — A Year Ago:
January 3, 2011: St. Thomas deployed a high-pressure, full-court press and used a 20-0 run out of the halftime break to run away with a 90-58 MIAC victory over the Cardinals at Schoenecker Arena in the Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex. The loss snapped SMU's six-game winning streak.
February 2, 2011: Cardinals gave seventh-ranked St Thomas all they could handle, but fell just short, falling to the Tommies 75-66 at SMU Gym.

Up Next:
The Cardinals are back on their home court on Wednesday, hosting Saint John's in a 7:30 p.m. conference contest at the SMU Gym. … St. Thomas, meanwhile, is also back in action on Wednesday, entertaining Hamline in a 7:30 p.m. game at Schoenecker Arena.

Saint Mary's Cardinals News and Notes:
2011-12 Roster | 2011-12 Statistics | 2011-12 Schedule
Wednesday's 64-60 win over Carleton put an end to a pair of streaks for the Cardinals, who snapped their two-game slide, while also ending a 23-game losing streak against the Knights. SMU had not beaten Carleton since a 69-55 win in Northfield on Jan. 29, 2000. … With their win Wednesday, SMU is now 3-2 in its last five games. … Saturday's game against St. Thomas is the Cardinals' second of three straight home games. SMU is 2-3 on its home court — with wins in two of its last three home contests. … Michael Burfeind was 5-for-5 from the field and 2-for-2 from the free throw line in the game's first 10 minutes against Carleton en route to his game-high 28 points. … Burfeind finished Wednesday's game 10-for-20 from the field and 7-for-8 from the free throw line. Burfeind made seven of the team's eight free throws vs. Carleton Wednesday. … Burfeind's 28-point effort marked the seventh time this season the SMU junior has scored 20 or more points. It was also the second-highest offensive output of his career behind his career-high 38-point showing against Concordia on Dec. 7. … Burfeind — who has led the team in scoring in 10 of their 14 games and owns the top five individual offensive outputs this season — has now scored in double figures in 14 of the Cardinals' 15 games. … Burfeind's career-high 38 points against Concordia on Dec. 7 was the first 30-point effort of Burfeind's career and was the most scored by a Cardinal since Will Wright tossed in 41 against MacMurray (Ill.) on Nov. 22, 2008. … After recording a career-high nine rebounds against Hamline last Monday, Pat Freeman (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) collected five assists vs. Carleton Wednesday, one helper shy of his career best. … Burfeind, who recorded his first collegiate double-double with 26 points and 12 rebounds against Saint John's on Dec. 5, enters Saturday's game vs. St. Thomas as the team leader in scoring (19.8 ppg) and rebounding (5.4 rpg). … Burfeind's 19.3 ppg average ranks him third in the MIAC in scoring. … Freeman is also averaging in double figures at 10.7 ppg. … Evan Pederson (Onalaska, Wis.), who had back-to-back 14-point games against Augsburg last Saturday and Hamline Monday, is the team's assist leader with 53 and ranks third on the team in scoring, averaging 8.1 ppg. … The Cardinals enter Saturday's game against St. Thomas averaging 60.7 ppg. They scored a season-high 79 points in a 91-79 loss at UW-Oshkosh on Nov. 25, 2011. … Three of SMU's top five offensive outputs have come on the road. … With their win over Macalester on Jan. 7, the Cardinals improved to 7-0 vs. the Scots under coach Todd Landrum.

St. Thomas Tommies News and Notes:
2011-12 Roster | 2011-12 Statistics | 2011-12 Schedule
With their 78-77 win over St. Olaf , St. Thomas has played now back-to-back games decided in the last five seconds. The Tommies lost Monday at home to Bethel, 69-68,  on a putback shot at the buzzer. In Wednesday's win at St. Olaf, UST got a steal with 18 seconds left, then junior John Nance hit a go-ahead 14-foot basket with four seconds to go in a 78-77 win over the Oles. … Last Monday's loss to the Royals snapped UST's three-game winning streak. … St. Thomas enters Saturday's game at Saint Mary's ranked 20th in the country. … The Tommies are attempting to become the first MIAC team in 60 seasons to win or share seven consecutive conference titles. They are tied with Augsburg and Gustavus at the halfway point of the 20-game race. … Nance scored a career-high 19 points — including that game-winner with four seconds remaining — against St. Olaf Wednesday. … Zach Riedeman came off the bench to chip in 17 points for the Tommies against St. Olaf, while Conner Nord (12) and Noah Kaiser (11) also finished in double figures for UST. … After scoring 70 or more points in seven of their first eight games, the Tommies have been held under the 70-point barrier seven times in their last eight contests. … UST graduated five of its top six players from its 2011 NCAA championship team. The lone returning starter, center Tommy Hannon, has missed all six January games with a knee injury, and his status for the rest of the season is uncertain. … First-year head coach John Tauer was an 11-year assistant coach with the Tommies. He played in one NCAA Final Four (1994) and coached as an assistant in another (2011).