WINONA, Minn.  — No matter what the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's basketball team tried Wednesday evening, they could not find a way to cool off hot-shooting Carleton.
 
The Knights shot a blistering 52 percent from the field—and knocked down eight of their 14 3-point attempts—in handing the Cardinals a 71-48 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
The Cardinals netted the game's first basket, but that would be the only time Saint Mary's would hold the advantage, as the Knights grabbed a 10-point, 19-9 lead with 11 minutes remaining in the first half.
 
And Carleton was just getting warmed up.
 
The Knights—who drained six first-half 3-pointers—used back-to-back treys as part of a 15-4 half-ending run to push their lead to 22, 42-20, at the break.
 
It was more of the same in the second half, as again the Cardinals scored first—and used a half-opening 7-2 run to cut the Carleton advantage to 17, 44-27.
 
Unfortunately, that would be as close as Saint Mary's would get, as the Knights answered the Cardinals' run with a 14-3 burst of their own to push the lead to 58-30 and cruised their third straight conference victory.
 
Wylie Ferron (Waconia, Minn.) scored a team-high 10 points for the Cardinals—who had their two-game winning streak snapped with the loss—as the junior went 4-for-7 from the field and added a pair of free throws. Connor Kaiser (Rockland, Wis.) and Will Swiggum (St. Charles, Minn.) each chipped in eight points, while Quashingm Smith-Pugh (St. Paul, Minn.) tallied six points and a team-best nine rebounds.
 
Tianen Chen had the hottest hand for the Knights, scoring a game-high 26 points, going 8-for-12 from the field with one 3-pointer, while adding a perfect 9-for-9 from the free throw line. John Eckert also scored in double figures for Carleton, netting 10 points.
 
Saint Mary's (2-2 MIAC, 4-3 overall) are back in action on Saturday, stepping out of conference play to host Simpson in a 3 p.m. nonconference contest at the Saint Mary's Gym.