Box Score  | GameDay Preview

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Will Swiggum (St. Charles, Minn.) continued to carry the hot hand for the Saint Mary's University men's basketball team.

Unfortunately, Swiggum's second-straight 20-plus point performance — not to mention his fifth double-double of the season — was not enough to carry the Cardinals to victory Wednesday evening.

Swiggum tossed in 20 points — just three points shy of the 23-point effort he posted last Saturday against Gustavus — and added 13 rebounds, but Hamline had an answer for the Cardinal sophomore, as Dior Ford poured in a game-high 28 points and the Pipers used a game-ending 11-5 run to seal a 69-60 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory at Hutton Arena.

After a see-saw opening 10 minutes, in which neither team led by more than four points, the Pipers used a 15-0 run to grab their biggest lead of the opening 20 minutes, 33-19, with 7:55 remaining.

Those final eight minutes, however, belonged to the Cardinals — who used a 20-5 half-ending burst to take a one point, 39-38 lead into the locker room at the break.

And it was more of the same over the game's final 20 minutes, with the two teams deadlocked at 49-49 with 11:34 on the clock. Trailing by six, 57-51, SMU cut the gap to three, 58-55 with 1:24 remaining — but the Pipers rattled off six straight points and the Cardinals never recovered.

Swiggum was virtually unstoppable over the game's opening 20 minutes, scoring 13 of his team-high 20 points — going 5-for-6 from the field with a 3-pointer, while adding a 2-for-2 showing from the free throw line. For the game, Swiggum's line read 8-for-12 from the field, 2-for-3 from 3-point ranger and 2-for-2 from the line, while also chipping in those 13 rebounds.

Evan Pederson (Onalaska, Wis.) and Bakari Collins (Kenosha, Wis.) also scored in double figures for the Cardinals, netting 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Along with Ford's game-high 28 points, Hamline got 11 points from Austin Johnson and 11 rebounds from Jake Kreuser.

The Cardinals close out their 2013-14 regular-season schedule on Friday, hosting Augsburg in a 3 p.m. conference game at the SMU Gym.