Box Score  | GameDay Preview

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — It's been a career week for Saint Mary's University's Will Swiggum (St. Charles, Minn.).

Three days after hauling in a career-best 13 rebounds en route to his second collegiate double-double against St. Olaf, Swiggum poured in a career-high 24 points against Augsburg on Saturday.

Swiggum's Herculean effort, however, was not enough, as Augsburg scored four unanswered points in the game's final 39 seconds to hand SMU a heartbreaking 64-61 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback at Si Melby Hall.

Swiggum had the hot hand early and never cooled off, scoring nine of the team's first 17 points and finishing the first half with a team-best 11 points and four rebounds. Over the game's final 20 minutes, it was more of the same, as the Cardinal freshman poured in 13 more points — finishing the game 9-for-15 from the field with a pair of 3-pointers and 4-for-4 from the free throw line — and added five more rebounds.

The first half proved to be a see-saw affair, with the lead changing hands nine times — the ninth change on a Ryan Gilmer layup that gave the Auggies a one-point, 29-28 lead at the break.

Augsburg grabbed the momentum early in the second half, building its lead to as many as seven on two occasions, the last at 47-40 with 11:15 remaining in regulation. Over the next four minutes, however, the Cardinals went to work, using a 15-3 run to take a five-point, 55-50, advantage.

Six unanswered points put the Auggies back in front, 56-55, 3:47 on the clock. The two teams took turns with the lead, but after Brian Thomas (Bellwood, Ill.) basket gave SMU a 61-60 lead with 54 seconds remaining, Augsburg scored the game's final four points — all coming from Tyler Schmidt — to earn the victory.

Along with Swiggum's 24 points, the Cardinals also got a career-high 12 points from Thomas and 11 points from Evan Pederson (Onalaska, Wis.). As a team, the Cardinals shot 51 percent from the field (24-for-47) and were 10 of 11 from the free throw line.

Dan Kornbaum equaled Swiggum's game-high 24-point effort to lead the way for Augsburg, while Brett Rasmussen also scored in double figures, finishing with 13 points.

The Cardinals are back in action on Monday, when they return home for a 7:30 p.m. conference game against Hamline at the SMU Gym.