Box Score  | GameDay Preview

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's basketball team erupted for 50 second-half points — and came within one point of erasing an 18-point first-half deficit — but North Central held off the Cardinals' furious second-half comeback in handing SMU an 83-78 setback at the ACR Homes/Northwestern Tip-Off Tournament Saturday afternoon.

Despite the loss, the Cardinals posted a trio of collegiate firsts, as Evan Pederson (Onalaska, Wis.) recorded a career-high 23 points for the Cardinals, while Will Swiggum (St. Charles, Minn.) drained a collegiate-best 18 points and Mark Schumacher (Perham, Minn.) notched his first collegiate double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Pederson also dished out six assists and Swiggum added eight rebounds.

Nathan Roeder led the way for North Central (1-1 overall) pouring in a game-high 41 points, while Bryce Burkman tallied a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds, and Jordan Harrell added 14 points.

Sam Ruth (Zumbro Falls, Minn.) got the Cardinals on the board first, but North Central netted the next seven points for 7-2 lead. SMU cut the Rams' lead to three on three different occasions, the final at 12-9 with 14:39 remaining.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the next six minutes were all North Central, as the Rams used a 12-0 run to push their lead to 24-9. The Rams would extend their lead to 18, 31-13, with 6:23 left in the half — and appeared to be in complete control.

The Cardinals, however, had other ideas, as SMU's offense kicked into high gear, scoring 15 of the final 21 points of the half to cut the deficit to nine, 37-28, at the break.

And SMU was just heating up, as the Cardinals used a 14-7 run to open the second half to cut the Rams' lead to two, 44-42. SMU would make it a two-point game seven times in the game's final 20 minutes, before clawing to within one, 76-75, with 49 seconds remaining in regulation on a Tyler Fleming (Maple Grove, Minn.) basket.

That would be as close as SMU would get, however, as North Central used a game-ending 7-3 run — to ice the win.

The Cardinals (0-2 overall) are back in action — and back on the road — on Tuesday, when they travel to River Forest, Ill., for a 7 p.m. nonconference game against Dominican University.