WINONA, Minn. — After the first 20 minutes of Saturday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against Saint John's, Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's basketball coach Jamison Rusthoven must have been scratching his head in disbelief.
 
After all, his Cardinals were coming off a 42-point first half performance, shooting 54 percent from the field and knocking down 5 of 9 3-pointers—and yet they trailed by 14.
 
As good as the Cardinals were, Saint John's was even better, as the Johnnies missed just seven field goals attempts—and drained 9 of 11 3-pointers—in building a 56-42 halftime advantage.
 
And despite a Herculean effort in the game's final 20 minutes, the Cardinals could not quite make up the deficit, falling to the Johnnies 89-80 at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
The loss overshadowed a memorable game for Cardinal senior Will Swiggum (St. Charles, Minn.), who scored 11 first-half points in becoming the 26^th player in program history to reach the 1,000 career-point mark.
 
Despite their torrid shooting from the outside, no matter how hard the Johnnies tried, they could not pull away from the Cardinals—holding just a two-point lead, 30-28, with 7:43 remaining in the opening half.
 
Over the next seven minutes, however, the Johnnies were able to create a little breathing room, using a 25-6 burst to grab their biggest lead of the half, 55-34, with 1:53 on the clock.
 
Swiggum did his part down the stretch, scoring six points—including his 1,000 career point to complete a three-point play with 48 seconds remaining to help cut the SJU lead to 14, 56-42 at the break.
 
Unfazed by the halftime deficit, the Cardinals came out and scored the first eight points of the second half to cut the SJU lead to six, 56-50. Saint Mary's would continue to remain within striking range, trailing by five twice—66-61 and 68-63—but Saint John's used a 11-3 burst to make it a 13-point game, 79-66, with just over six minutes to play.
 
Saint Mary's closed the gap to seven, 87-80 on five consecutive points by Quashingm Smith-Pugh (St. Paul, Minn.), but the Cardinals' comeback ran out of time.
 
Smith-Pugh finished with a career-high 24 points to pace the Cardinals, going 8-for-11 from the field—including a 3-for-4 effort from behind the 3-point line—and added 5 of 6 free throws. Connor Kaiser (Rockland, Wis.) added 16 points and Swiggum chipped in 13.
 
Saint Mary's finished shooting 51 percent from the field (27-for-53) and drained a season-high 3-pointers. Saint John's finished the day hitting on 58 percent of its field goals (29-for-50) with 11 3-pointers and a 20-for-28 effort from the free throw line.
 
Schmitt netted a game-high 27 points to lead the Johnnies, with Mitchell Kuck and Tyler Weiss chipping in 15 and 13 points, respectively.
 
The Cardinals (5-10 MIAC, 7-13 overall) are right back in action on Monday, traveling to Moorhead, Minn., for a 7 p.m. conference matchup against Concordia.