ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's basketball team kept eighth-ranked St. Thomas within their sights for the first 20 minutes of the teams' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game Wednesday evening.
 
Over the game's final 20 minutes, however, the high-powered Tommie offense—and defense—kicked into high gear, as UST scored the first 12 points of the half, while limiting the Cardinals to just 13 second-half points, in dealing Saint Mary's a 75-43 setback at Schoenecker Arena.
 
St. Thomas scored the game's first five points, before Nick Ogren (Stillwater, Minn.) drained one of the Cardinals' five first-half 3-pointers to make it a two-point, 5-3 game.
 
Unfortunately, by the time Wylie Ferron (Waconia, Minn.) knocked down 3-pointer No. 2 for Saint Mary's, the Tommies had rattled off 11 straight points to push the lead to 16-6.
 
St. Thomas would push its lead to as many as 14, 37-23, with 3:42 remaining, before settling for a 41-30 halftime advantage.
 
The second half began in much the same fashion as the first half, as UST went on another half-opening run—only this time the Tommies scored 12 unanswered points for a 53-30 cushion.
 
And the Cardinals just did not have an answer.
 
Treyvon Edwards (Minneapolis, Minn.) put an end to the Tommies' 12-0 half-opening run on a put-back bucket at 13:38, and Aaron Romportl (Stillwater, Minn.) and Will Swiggum (St. Charles, Minn.) followed with back-to-back field goals to get the Cardinals back to within 53-36 with 12 minutes remaining in regulation.
 
Over those final 12 minutes, however, St. Thomas outscored the Cardinals 22-7 to seal their sixth win in seven tries this season.
 
Ferron finished with eight points, while Swiggum chipped in seven for the Cardinals, who shot 31 percent from the field (17-for-55). Conner Nord and Ryan Saarela each scored 14 points, with Taylor Montero adding 10 for the Tommies (2-1 MIAC, 6-1 overall).
 
The Cardinals (1-3 MIAC, 1-3 overall) are now off until Dec. 20, when they return home to the Saint Mary's Gym for a 3 p.m. nonconference game against Viterbo.