By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — The last three days have been a white-knuckle ride for the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's basketball team.
 
The Cardinals entered Wednesday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against Gustavus on the heels of a nail-biting, 67-64 loss to Concordia on Monday.
 
And Saint Mary's was in for more nail biting against the Gusties.
 
Unfortunately for coach Jamison Rusthoven and the Cardinals, the end result was much the same as Monday, as Gustavus knocked down four free throws in the game's final 35 seconds and held off a furious final seconds in dealing Saint Mary's a 69-62 setback at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
The two teams took turns playing with the lead in the game's opening 20 minutes, as Gustavus opened the game on a 7-0 run, only to have Saint Mary's answered with seven straight points of its own to knot the game at 7-7.
 
The Cardinals would build a six-point lead, 19-13—their largest of the game—on a Kareem Anthony-Bello 3-pointer, only to have Gustavus use a 15-3 run to grab a six-point, 28-22 advantage with 1:50 remaining in the game's opening 20 minutes.
 
Saint Mary's again had an answer, scoring the final six points of the half to pull even, 28-28 heading into the halftime intermission.
 
It was more of the same in the second half, as Gustavus scored seven of the first nine points, and built leads as big as 10 on three separate occasions—the final time at 53-43 with 8:14 to play in regulation.
 
Saint Mary's whittled the lead back down to five, 53-48, but an 8-2 GAC burst gave the Gusties its biggest lead of the game, 61-50, with just over four minutes on the clock.
 
Unfazed by the deficit, the Cardinals went to work, closing to within five, 65-60. With time running out, however, Saint Mary's was forced to foul, and the Gusties made four of six free throws down the stretch to ice the win.
 
Antony-Bello scored a team-high 13 points for the Cardinals, while Jakob Bailey (Cameron, Wis.)—coming off a career-high 18-point effort against Concordia Monday—chipped in 12 points. Saint Mary's shot 28 percent from the field (24-for-63) with six 3-pointers, while adding an 8 of 11 effort from the free throw line.
 
Gustavus hit on 48 percent of its field goal attempts (27-for-56), but were just 3 of 14 from behind the arc. Riley Sharbono led the for the Gusties, scoring a game-high 20 points, while Brandon Snoberger netted 14 and Jason Faul added 12.
 
The Cardinals (0-8 MIAC, 1-12 overall) return to conference play on Saturday, as Saint Mary's entertains Macalester in a 1 p.m. matchup at the Saint Mary's Gym.