ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's basketball team was good in the first half of its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against Hamline Wednesday evening.
They were even better in the second half.
The Cardinals, clinging to a one-point, 26-25 lead after the game's opening 20 minutes, shot a blistering 62.5 percent from the field in the second half—knocking down 10 of their 16 field goal attempts—in pulling away from the Pipers for a 70-59 conference win at Hutton Arena.
Saint Mary's had the upper hand for the majority of the game's opening 20 minutes, leading by as many as nine, 20-11, with nine minutes remaining before halftime, only to have the Pipers go on a 10-0 run to take their first lead of the game, 21-20, with 2:57 on the clock.
The Cardinals would score six of the final 10 points to take their one-point, 26-25, lead into the locker room at the break.
Saint Mary's came out gunning to open the second half, scoring eight unanswered points to push its lead to nine, 34-25. The Cardinals built their lead to 14, 55-41, with 6:10 left in regulation, and maintained that double-digit lead the rest of the way in sealing their fifth win of the season.
Quashingm Smith-Pugh (St. Paul, Minn.) led four Cardinal players in double figures with 15 points, while
Will Swiggum (St. Charles, Minn.) and
Braden Walbeck (Fall Creek, Wis.) chipped in 14 points each and
Aaron Romportl (Stillwater, Minn.) finished with 10.
Fueled by their red-hot second half, Saint Mary's shot 52.5 percent from the field (21-for-40) and were a sizzling 24 of 33 from the free throw line. Hamline, meanwhile, poured in 23 of 58 field goal attempts (40 percent), but were just 8-for-20 from the charity stripe.
Bret Lukes scored a team-best 14 points and Connor Knutson added 10 in the losing effort for the Pipers (1-9 MIAC, 3-12 overall).
The Cardinals (3-7 MIAC, 5-9 overall) are back in action—and back in St. Paul, Minn.)—on Saturday, heading to Macalester's Leonard Center for a 1 p.m. conference game against the Scots.
