Box Score  | GameDay Preview

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's basketball team had its offense clicking on all cylinders Wednesday evening, as the Cardinals erupted for 74 points in their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against Bethel.

Unfortunately, as good as their offense was, the Royals' was even better, as Bethel poured in 51 first-half points and held off a furious Cardinal second-half comeback in handing SMU an 88-74 setback at Robertson Center.

Will Swiggum (St. Charles, Minn.) led the team in scoring for the second straight game, as the sophomore tossed in 16 points to lead four SMU players in double figures. Bakari Collins (Kenosha, Wis.) chipped in 14 points — all in the second half — while Johnny Spillane (West St. Paul, Minn.) and Wylie Ferron (Waconia, Minn.) added 11 and 10 points, respectively.

As a team, the Cardinals hit on 26 of 66 field goals (39 percent) — including a season-high 10 3-pointers.

Luke Buttenhoff led the way for the Royals, pouring in a game-high 30 points on 14 of 18 shooting from the field, while Kyle von Schmidt-Pau added 15 points and Christina Skinner chipped in 10.

The Royals, who shot a blistering 63 percent from the field in the game's opening 20 minutes, scored 15 of the game's first 20 points, led 30-9 through the opening 10 minutes, and took a 51-30 advantage into the locker room at the break.

SMU outscored Bethel 44-37 over the game's final 20 minutes, but the first-half deficit was just too much to overcome.

The Cardinals are back in action on Saturday, as SMU returns home to host Saint John's in a 3 p.m. conference game at the SMU Gym.