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LA CROSSE, Wis. — Call it a case of first-game jitters.

The Saint Mary's University men's basketball team, with just one returning starter in the lineup — and facing an opponent that already had five games under its belt — struggled to find its shooting touch early Wednesday evening.

And the Cardinals could never fully recover.

Viterbo raced out to an 11-1 lead, boasted a 30-19 advantage at the half, and cruised to a 65-48 win over SMU in the Cardinals' nonconference season-opener at R.W. Beggs Senior Gymnasium.

The Cardinals missed their first nine field goals, and found themselves down 11-1 with 12 minutes remaining in the first half. Will Swiggum (St. Charles, Minn.) knocked down SMU's first basket from the field, and Wylie Ferron (Waconia, Minn.) drained a 3-pointer on their next possession — and suddenly, the V-Hawks' lead was cut to three, 11-8.

That, however, would be as close as the Cardinals would get, as Viterbo closed the half on a 19-11 run to take a 30-19 advantage into the locker room at the break.

The halftime intermission didn't cool off the V-Hawks — who shot 54 percent from the field (12-for-22) in the game's opening 20 minutes — as Viterbo opened the second half outscoring SMU 15-4 to push its lead to 22, 45-23, with 14:02 remaining in regulation.

Viterbo's lead would expand to as many as 27, 55-38, before the Cardinals closed out the half outscoring the V-Hawks 15-10 over the half's final 10 minutes.

Swiggum led the way for the Cardinals, scoring a team-best 12 points, while also sharing the team lead in rebounds (4) with Aaron Romportl (Stillwater, Minn.).

Cole Lewis scored 18 points and David Shepard added 13 for the V-Hawks, who improved to 4-2 overall.

The Cardinals (0-1 overall) kick off the home portion of their schedule on Saturday, as SMU hosts Crown in a 7:30 p.m. nonconference game at the SMU Gym.