WINONA, Minn. — Wylie Ferron and Quashingm Smith-Pugh (St. Paul, Minn.) did everything in their power to give themselves—and fellow seniors Aaron Romportl (Stillwater, Minn.) and Chad Schlosser (Stillwater, Minn.)—the perfect senior send-off Saturday afternoon.
 
Saint John's Patrick Strom, however, had to rain on their parade.
 
Ferron and Smith-Pugh provided an explosive 1-2 offensive combination—scoring 22 and 16 points, respectively—but Strom proved to boast the knockout punch, scoring a game-high 30 points in lifting Saint John's to a 76-65 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win over the Cardinals at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
The Johnnies tried on several occasions to run away from the Cardinals, but each time SJU grabbed the momentum, Saint Mary's grabbed it right back.
 
Saint John's scored the game's first six points and raced out to leads of 11-2 and 14-4, before the Cardinals found their shooting touch.
 
After missing their first eight field goal attempts, however, the Cardinals went 10-for-17 the rest of the first half—and got back-to-back 3-pointers from Eli Cave (St. Paul, Minn.) in the final minute to pull Saint Mary's within two, 36-34, at the break.
 
SJU used an 11-1 run to open the second half to push its lead to 12, 47-35, but again the Cardinals answered back, whittling the deficit down to four, 54-50 on a pair of free throws by Ferron with less than 12 minutes remaining in regulation.
 
The Johnnies continued to keep Saint Mary's at bay, holding a 56-56 lead, before Saint Mary's made one final push to get within six, 65-59, with 2:40 remaining.
 
That, however, would be as close as the Cardinals would get, as SJU got a 3-pointer from David Stokman and were a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line down the stretch to ice the win.
 
Ferron finished 6 of 14 from the field—including draining his lone 3-pointer as part of a four-point play in the game's final seconds—and added a 9-for-11 showing from the free throw line. Smith-Pugh, meanwhile, went 5 of 10 from the field with one 3-pointer, and was 5-for-7 from the line.
 
Along with Strom's game-high 30 points, the playoff-bound Johnnies' also got 13 points from Stokman and 11 from Tyler Weiss.
 
The Cardinals closed out the season 4-16 in conference play, while owning a 6-18 overall record.