By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — It's been a heartbreaking week for the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's basketball team.
 
Wednesday evening, Carleton rallied from a late second-half deficit to beat the Cardinals — getting back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers from Matthew Stritzel in the game's final minute as part of an 11-3, game-ending run that rallied the Knights to a 74-71 victory at West Gym.
 
Saturday afternoon, the heartbreak continued for Saint Mary's, as Wyatt Ferm knocked down a fade-away jumper with 0.7 seconds remaining in regulation to lift Macalester to a 75-74 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win over the Cardinals.
 
It was obvious early on that Saturday's showdown would go down to the game's final possession.
 
Through the game's opening 20 minutes, the Cardinals held leads as big as five, while Macalester led by as many as three. When the first-half dust settled, Saint Mary's — which shot 61.5 percent from the field in the opening half — was clinging to a two-point, 45-43 advantage.
 
And it was more of the same in the second half.
 
Saint Mary's built its biggest lead of the afternoon, 67-58 with just over six minutes remaining in regulation, only to have Macalester whittle that advantage to one, 72-71 — before grabbing a one-point lead of its own, 73-72, on a layup by Ferm with two minutes on the clock.
 
Saint Mary's regained the lead, 74-73 on a field goal by Caden Freetly (Farmington, Minn.). The Scots failed to convert on their next possession, but the Cardinals could not take advantage, coming up empty on their turn down the court, leaving SMU clinging to that one-point, 74-73 lead with 50 seconds left.
 
Macalester turned the ball over and quickly fouled, but Saint Mary's missed the front-end of the bonus, setting up Ferm's last-second game-winner.
 
Kevin Gleason (Minneapolis, Minn.) scored a career-high 22 points on 10 of 17 shooting — including a pair of 3-pointers — while Eli Cave (St. Paul, Minn.) added 17 points, and Sawyer Rosner (Phelps, Wis.) and Freetly chipped in 11 and 10 points, respectively.
 
Ferm poured in a game-high 32 points and added 12 rebounds to lead the way for Macalester (1-9 MIAC, 4-11 overall).
 
The Cardinals (2-8 MIAC, 6-9 overall) are back in action on Wednesday, heading to Concordia's Memorial Auditorium in Moorhead, Minn., for a 7 p.m. conference matchup against the Cobbers.