By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. — As if playing a second-straight nationally ranked team wasn't a daunting enough task for the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's basketball team, the Cardinals had to square off against a Saint John's squad that came into Wednesday's matchup with a bit of a chip on their shoulder.
 
The 13th-ranked Johnnies took to the court against the Cardinals having lost back-to-back games for the first time this season — including a 74-72 overtime loss to seventh-ranked St. Thomas on Monday.
 
And SJU was in no mood to play the gracious host to the Cardinals.
 
Saint John's outscored the Cardinals 21-7 over the final eight minutes of the opening half — turning a three-point game into a 17-point halftime advantage — and the Johnnies never took their foot off the accelerator, rolling to an 89-58 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over Saint Mary's at Sexton Arena.
 
The Cardinals matched the high-powered Johnnies basket-for-basket through the first 11 minutes of the opening half, rallying from an early 11-point deficit to pull within three, 29-26, on a Sawyer Rosner (Phelps, Wis.) 3-pointer.
 
From there, however, the Johnnies grabbed control, rattling off 18 of the next 20 points as part of a half-ending 21-7 run to take a 50-33 lead into the locker room at the break.
 
Saint Mary's opened the second half with a 3-pointer by Eli Cave (St. Paul, Minn.) to trim the lead to 14, 50-36, but that was as close as the Cardinals would get, as Saint John's slowly pulled away over the game's final 20 minutes to seal the victory.
 
Cave finished with 17 points to lead the Cardinals — marking the 17^th time in the 18 games that the sophomore has scored in double figures — while Rosner chipped in 11 points. Saint Mary's shot 35.1 percent from the field (20-for-57) with nine 3-pointers, and finished 9 of 12 from the free throw line.
 
Saint John's, one of the top shooting teams in NCAA Division III, went 31-for-58 (53.4 percent) from the field — including a 10 of 24 showing from behind the arc, while adding a 17-for-22 effort from the charity stripe.
 
Lucas Walford led a trio of Johnnies in double figures, scoring 15, while Jubi Alade chipped in 14 and David Stokman added 11.
 
The Cardinals (2-11 MIAC, 6-12 overall) are back in action on Saturday, returning home to the Saint Mary's Gym for a 3 p.m. conference matchup against Gustavus.