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WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's basketball team boasted three starters who scored in double figures — including a career-high 19 points from Wylie Ferron (Waconia, Minn.) — in their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against Concordia Saturday.

Unfortunately, the Cobbers answered with all five of their starters scoring in double digits — not to mention a finishing kick that was tough to match — as Concordia used a game-ending 26-15 run over the final eight minutes to turn a two-point game into an 83-70 Cobber victory at the SMU Gym.

The Cardinals gave the Cobbers all they could handle in the game's opening 20 minutes. Concordia led by as many as six early in the half, but SMU responded, using a 13-4 run to take their first lead of the game, 24-11, on an Aaron Romportl (Stillwater, Minn.) 3-pointer.

SMU pushed its advantage to five twice in the game's final eight minutes, but, after Evan Pederson (Onalaska, Wis.) gave the Cardinals a four-point, 35-31 lead with his second 3-pointer of the afternoon, the Cobbers scored the final six points of the half to take a 36-35 advantage into the locker room at the break.

It was more of the same through the first six minutes of the second half, before a 12-2 CC run turned a 42-42 deadlock into a 54-44 Cobber lead. The Cardinals, however, were unimpressed, rattling off 11 of the next 14 points to cut the deficit to two, 57-55, with 7:48 remaining in regulation.

Over those final eight minutes, the Cobbers took control, pushing their lead to as many as 14, before settling for the 13-point, 83-70 victory.

Along with Ferron's career-best 19-point showing, SMU got 18 points from Pederson and 16 from Will Swiggum (St. Charles, Minn.). Concordia countered with a game-high 23 points from Tom Fraase, 14 from Jordan Bolger, 13 from Brandon Giese and 12 from Ryan Rude.

As a team, the Cardinals shot 45 percent from the field (28-for-62) and were 6 of 17 from behind the 3-point line. After not shooting a free throw in the first half, SMU went 8-for-11 from the line over the game's final 20 minutes. Concordia, meanwhile, hit on 59 percent of its field goals (30-for-51) with four 3-pointers, while sealing the win by going 19-for-24 from the free throw line — with all 19 made free throws coming in the second half.

The Cardinals are back in action on Monday, as they head to Leonard Center on the Macalester campus in St. Paul, Minn., for a 7:30 p.m. conference game against the Scots.