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WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's basketball team in general — and junior Evan Pederson (Onalaska, Wis.) in particular — certainly rang in the new year in impressive fashion Thursday evening.

The Cardinals — playing their first game since December 11 — showed absolutely no signs of rust, as SMU collected its first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win of the season with a 67-51 victory over Macalester at the SMU Gym.

With temperatures hovering barely above zero degrees, Pederson did his part to heat things up inside the SMU Gym, knocking down his first seven field goal attempts — including five 3-pointers — en route to a career-high 29-point effort against the Scots.

With Pederson leading the charge, the Cardinals erased a 14-10 deficit with an eight-minute, 20-0 run that gave SMU a commanding 30-14 advantage with 5:55 remaining in the opening half.

The Cardinals would keep the Scots at bay the rest of the way, taking a 17-point, 40-23 advantage into the locker room at the break.

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

Macalester threatened to cut the Cardinals' lead to single digits midway through the second half, but, trailing 52-40, the Scots missed the front end of three straight one-and-one free throw opportunities. SMU followed that third Macalester missed free throw with four straight made free throws of their own — two by Pederson and two by Will Swiggum (St. Charles, Minn.) — and the Cardinals never looked back.

SMU padded its lead to as many as 23, 67-44, with 3:24 remaining in regulation, before settling for the 16-point victory.

After going 7-for-7 to open the game, Pederson finished 9 of 13 from the field and a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line en route to his career-high 29 points. Swiggum chipped in his fourth double-double of the season with 10 points and 13 rebounds, while Johnny Spillane (West St. Paul, Minn.) added 10 points.

Griffin Glatt scored 11 points to lead the way for Macalester (1-3 MIAC, 2-7 overall).

The Cardinals (1-3 MIAC, 2-7 overall) are back in action on Saturday, as SMU heads to Moorhead, Minn., for a 3 p.m. conference showdown with Concordia.