By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — When the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's basketball team took the court Wednesday evening against Hamline, coach Joe Fano was hoping his Cardinals would ring in 2019 in much the same way they closed out 2018.
 
With a victory.
 
The Pipers, however, refused to follow the script.
 
Saint Mary's — coming off a 76-67 win over North Park last Saturday — could not cool off the hot-shooting Pipers early on, as Hamline outscored the Cardinals 31-12 in the final 12 minutes of the opening half and never looked back in dropping SMU 76-57 in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference matchup at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
Saint Mary's matched the Pipers shot-for-shot through the first eight minutes Wednesday, and boasted a 17-15 advantage on a David Lindstrand (Lakeville, Minn.) free throw with 12:26 remaining.
 
Over that final 12:26, however, it was all Hamline, as the Pipers scored 31 of the next 43 points to take a 17-point, 46-29 advantage into the locker room at the break.
 
Saint Mary's was not about to throw in the towel, however, whittling the Pipers' lead down to 11, 59-48, on a three-point play by Lindstrand midway through the second half, and were again within 11, 62-51, on a Caden Freetly (Farmington, Minn.) 3-pointer a minute later.
 
That would be as close as the Cardinals would get, as Hamline closed out the half on a 19-6 run to seal the win.
 
Jacob Chilson (Eau Claire, Wis.) led a trio of Cardinals in double figures, scoring 15 points, while Kevin Gleason (Minneapolis, Minn.) chipped in 13 and Eli Cave (St. Paul, Minn.) added 12. The Cardinals shot 33 percent from the field (20-for-60) with eight 3-pointers, while going 9-for-18 from the free throw line.
 
Isaac Brooks and Ethan Scheuring each scored a game-high 21 points to pace the Pipers (4-2 MIAC, 7-4 overall), who shot 57 percent from the field (30-for-53) with five 3-pointers and a 14-for-17 effort from the charity stripe.
 
The Cardinals (2-4 MIAC, 6-5 overall) are back in conference play on Saturday, returning to the Saint Mary's Gym for a 3 p.m. showdown against Augsburg.