ST. PAUL, Minn. — In both of their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference meetings against Hamline a year ago, the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's basketball team used big second halves to pull away from the Pipers.
 
In their first meeting, the Cardinals held a one-point, 26-25 advantage at halftime, before outscoring HU 44-34 over the game's final 20 minutes en route to a 70-59 victory.
 
In meeting No. 2, the Pipers boasted a two-point, 33-31 cushion at the break, only to have Saint Mary's erupt for 43 second-half points—while holding the Pipers to just 29—in routing Hamline 74-61 and completing the season sweep.
 
Monday evening, the Cardinals and Pipers squared off for the first time this season—and once again followed the same first-half script, with Saint Mary's clinging to a three-point, 50-47 lead.
 
Unlike those previous two meetings—not to the mention the nailbiting first half—there would be no "pulling away."
 
And, unfortunately for Saint Mary's coach Jamison Rusthoven, there would be no Cardinal victory, either.
 
Hamline scored seven of the game's final nine points to hand the Cardinals an 89-86 conference setback at Hutton Arena.
 
The Pipers had the upper hand early, grabbing a 20-12 advantage, but a 13-5 Saint Mary's burst knotted the game at 25-25 nine minutes in. Saint Mary's held leads as large as six in the final 11 minutes of the opening half, before settling for its three-point, 50-47 lead at the break.
 
As was the case in the first half, neither team was able to take complete control—and neither team would own a lead bigger than five points over the game's final 20 minutes.
 
Saint Mary's had the upper hand early, grabbing its biggest leads of the second half early—60-55 on a 3-pointer by James Cullen (Western Springs, Ill.) and 62-57 on a put-back by Quashingm Smith-Pugh (St. Paul, Minn.).
 
The Pipers would grab the momentum—and the lead—using a 16-6 run to take their five-point advantage, 73-68, midway through the half.
 
Saint Mary's pulled even, 74-74 and regained the lead, 81-80 on a Kevin Gleason (Minneapolis, Minn.) 3-pointer with 4:14 to play. Jay Betts put HU back in front with a pair of free throws, but a Cole Kruger (Hayfield, Minn.) layup put the Cardinals back on top, 83-82 with 2:29 on the clock. Smith-Pugh added one of two free throws to give Saint Mary's a two-point advantage, 84-82, but the Pipers closed the game on a 7-2 run—and benefitted from a pair of Cardinal missed 3-point attempts in the final 30 seconds—to escape with the win.
 
Wylie Ferron (Waconia, Minn.) scored a team-high 15 points, leading five Cardinals in double figures. Aaron Romportl (Stillwater, Minn.) chipped in 14 points, while Cullen—coming off a career-high 22-point effort in the Cardinals' nonconference loss to Carnegie Mellon last Wednesday—added13 points, and Smith-Pugh finished with 11. 
 
The Cardinals shot 51 percent from the field—going 32-for-63 with 13 3-pointers—but could not find their touch from the free throw line, making just 9 of 20. Hamline also shot lights-out from the field, going 33-for-59 (56 percent) with eight 3-pointers, and added a 15-for-23 effort from the charity stripe.
 
The Cardinals (2-3 MIAC, 4-5 overall) are right back in action on Wednesday, heading to Macalester's Leonard Center in St. Paul, Minn., for a 7 p.m. conference matchup with the Scots