Box Score  | GameDay Preview

RIVER FOREST, Ill. — Games don't get much closer than the Saint Mary's University men's basketball team's nonconference showdown with Dominican Tuesday evening.

There were 10 lead changes.

Dominican did not lead by more than six points, while the Cardinals' biggest lead was seven.

And the game was tied nine times, the ninth coming at 53-53 with 16 seconds remaining in regulation.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, Dominican used those last 16 seconds to set up an Anthony Keener 3-pointer at the buzzer to lift the Stars to a 56-53 victory.

Dominican had the upper hand early, scoring the game's first three points, while building its lead to six, 11-5, with 13:37 remaining in the opening 20 minutes. From there, the first half was a see-saw affair, with the Stars taking a one-point, 21-20 advantage into the locker room at the break.

And it was more of the same in the second half.

SMU built its biggest lead of the game, 36-29, by outscoring the Stars 16-8 over the first seven minutes. And like the Cardinals in the first half, Dominican would claw its way back, with the game being tied three times over the final 11 minutes — including that 53-53 deadlock on an Evan Pederson (Onalaska, Wis.) basket with 16 seconds on the clock.

And the Stars used every second, as Keener's trey beat the buzzer to give Dominican its first win of the season.

Pederson and LaMonte Hall (Minneapolis, Minn.) led the way for SMU, scoring nine points each, while Pederson also dished out seven assists and Mark Schumacher (Perham, Minn.) and Sam Ruth (Zumbro Falls, Minn.) each recorded eight points.

Keener netted a game-high 15 points and Taylor DeRoo and Logan Harris each chipped in 12 points for Dominican (1-2 overall).

The Cardinals return to action on Nov. 28, when they kick off Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play with a 7:30 p.m. home game against St. Olaf at the SMU Gym.