ST. PAUL, Minn. — Over the past five-plus years, the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's basketball team has had Macalester's number, owning a 10-1 record in the teams' last 11 meetings—including a conference sweep of the Scots a year ago.
 
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, it was the Scots who dialed up the winning number on Saturday, as Macalester rode the hot hand of Dylan Kilgour to a 73-59 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over Saint Mary's at Leonard Center.
 
The first half proved to be a see-saw affair, with both teams holding slim leads—the Cardinals led by as many as eight, 20-12, with 11 minutes remaining, while the Scots closed out the half on a 6-2 run for its biggest lead of the half, 31-27, heading into the locker room at the break.
 
Macalester opened the second half by scoring 11 of the first 16 points to push its lead to 10, 42-32. The Scots' lead ballooned to 19 twice—the final time at 70-51.
 
The Cardinals whittled the lead to 12, 70-59 with eight straight points, but that was as close as they would get, as Luke Poulsen drained a pair of free throws in the final seconds to seal the win.
 
Will Swiggum (St. Charles, Minn.) scored a team-high 13 points for the Cardinals on 3 of 7 shooting—and a perfect 6-for-6 effort from the free throw line—and added 11 rebounds for his first double-double of the season, while Connor Kaiser (Rockland, Wis.) chipped in a career-best 10 points.
 
Kilgour netted a game-high 18 points for the Scots (1-7 MIAC 4-9 overall), going 8-for-11 from the field, with Kyle Bernhard chipping in 11 points.
 
The Cardinals (1-8 MIAC, 2-10 overall) are right back in action on Monday evening, as Saint Mary's entertains Carleton in a 7 p.m. conference showdown at the Saint Mary's Gym.