ST. PETER, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's basketball team got double-figure scoring from both Ronnie Ortiz (Dayton, Ohio) and Mark Schumacher (Perham, Minn.)—and the Cardinals outscored Gustavus 36-34 over the game's final 20 minutes.
 
Unfortunately, a cold-shooting first half allowed the Gusties to race out to a 36-15 halftime advantage—a hole the Cardinals just could not dig out of in falling to Gustavus 70-51 in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game at Gus Young Court.
 
Ortiz finished with a team-best 12 points—including eight in the second half—while Schumacher chipped in 10.
 
The Cardinals shot 45 percent from the field (13-for-29) in the second half, but could not overcome the 27 percent first-half effort that yielded just 15 points—and left Saint Mary's staring out of a 21-point hole heading into the second half.
 
Saint Mary's whittled the lead down to 14, 65-51, with two minutes remaining, but the Gusties answered by scoring the game's final five points to ice the victory.
 
Chad Poppen led a trio of Gusties in double figures with a game-high 17 points, while Peter Kruize and Brody Ziegler chipped in 13 and 10 points, respectively.
 
The Cardinals are back on the road on Wednesday, traveling to Northfield, Minn., for a 7 p.m. conference game against the Knights. Saint Mary's will then close out its 2014-15 season on Saturday, hosting Macalester in a 3 p.m. MIAC contest at the Saint Mary's Gym.