NORTHFIELD, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's basketball team put three players in double figures—led by Will Swiggum (St. Charles, Minn.) with 14)—but the Cardinals could not keep pace with Carleton in the second half, as the Knights pulled away for a 75-59 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win at West Gym Wednesday evening.
 
The Cardinals gave the Knights all they could handle over the game's opening 20 minutes, holding leads as big as five early, only to have Carleton use a half-ending 18-10 run to grab a 35-27 lead at the break.
 
After falling behind by as many as 13 early in the second half, the Cardinals got to work chipping away at the Carleton advantage, cutting the deficit to seven on three separate occasions, the final time at 55-48 midway through the frame.
 
That, however, would be as close as Saint Mary's would get, as Carleton sealed the win by scoring 20 of the game's final 31 points to ice the win.
 
Along with Swiggum's 14 points, the Cardinals also got 11 points from Mark Schumacher (Perham, Minn.) and Ronnie Ortiz (Dayton, Ohio). Saint Mary's shot 42 percent from the field (24-for-57)—including a pair of 3-pointers from Connor Kaiser (Rockland, Wis.)—while also going 9 of 14 from the free throw line.
 
Tianen Chen scored a game-high 22 points for the Knights, who also got double-figure scoring from Michelle Biewen (15) and Shane McSparron (12).
 
The Cardinals close out the 2014-15 season on Saturday, hosting Macalester in a 3 p.m. conference game at the Saint Mary's Gym.