ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's basketball team got a career-high 10 points from Zach Hinrichs (Lake City, Minn.) in the Cardinals' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against Hamline Wednesday evening.
 
Unfortunately, the Cardinals could not find a way to cool off the hot-handed Pipers, as Hamline shot a blistering 58 percent from the field—including a 69 percent showing in its 49-point second half—as HU handed Saint Mary's an 81-57 setback at Hutton Arena.
 
The Cardinals knocked down 12 of their 24 field goals in the game's opening 20 minutes—including a 4-for-6 showing from behind the 3-point line—and headed into the locker room at halftime down by just two, 32-30.
 
Over the game's final 20 minutes, however, the Pipers—who went 12-for-26 from the field with four 3-pointers in the opening half—could not miss, draining 20 of 29 field goals, including four more 3-pointers, in outscoring Saint Mary's 49-27 to secure the conference win.
 
Hinrichs was the only Cardinal to finish in double figures, while Mark Schumacher (Perham, Minn.) chipped in eight points, and Connor Kaiser (Rockland, Wis.), Nick Ogren (Stillwater, Minn.), Will Swiggum (St. Charles, Minn.), Jake Rhyner (Apple Valley, Minn.), and Ronnie Ortiz (Dayton, Ohio) all finished with seven points.
 
Austin Johnson scored a game-high 26 points for the Pipers, who also got double-figure scoring from Dior Ford (15), Zach Smith (15) and Quinton Garvis.
 
The Cardinals are back in action—and back on the road—on Saturday, as they travel to Arden Hills, Minn., for a 3 p.m. conference game against Bethel at the Royals' Robertson Center.