ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's basketball team gave playoff-bound St. Thomas all it could handle—and then some—Wednesday evening.
 
In fact, the Cardinals trailed by just four, 44-40 midway through the second half, and were within striking distance late in regulation—only to have Grant Shaeffer score 10 points in a 12-5 St. Thomas run that lifted the Tommies to a 65-57 victory at Schoenecker Arena.
 
The Cardinals scored the game's first basket, and led three times in the opening minutes—including 7-4 with 17:32 remaining. That, however, would be the last time Saint Mary's would play with the lead, as St. Thomas slowly pulled away, grabbing their biggest lead of the half, 34-24, on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Shaeffer.
 
The Cardinals used a half-opening 14-7 run to cut the Tommie lead to three, 41-37, and trailed by six, 53-47, when Shaeffer took over, icing the win by scoring UST's next 10 points to push the advantage to 11, 63-52, with less than a minute remaining in regulation.
 
Wylie Ferron (Waconia, Minn.) scored a team-high 16 points and added 13 rebounds in posting his fifth double-double of the season. Bradley Hill (Matteson, Ill.) and Aaron Romportl (Stillwater, Minn.) also finished in double figures for Saint Mary's, scoring 12 and 10 points, respectively.
 
The Cardinals shot 33 percent from the field (18-for-55)—including 5 3-pointers—while going 16 of 20 from the free throw line. St. Thomas, meanwhile, knocked down 25 of 55 field goal attempts (45 percent) and was 12-for-17 from the free throw line.
 
Shaeffer scored a game-high 21 points, while Ryan Boll chipped in 17 points and 13 rebounds, and Jordan Burich added nine points and 15 boards for the Tommies (14-5 MIAC, 18-6 overall, who secured the first or second seed in the upcoming MIAC Playoffs with the victory.
 
The Cardinals (4-15 MIAC, 6-17 overall) close out the regular season on Saturday, hosting Saint John's in a 3 p.m. contest at the Saint Mary's Gym.