By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
ARDEN HILLS, Minn. — Monday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference showdown between Bethel and the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's basketball could be summed up in two simple words: Bombs away!
 
In 40 minutes, the Cardinals and Royals combined for 23 3-pointers on 57 attempts from behind the 3-point line.
 
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, it was the Royals who had the hotter hand from behind the arc, knocking down 15 treys — and surviving an incredible 18-point second-half showing from Saint Mary's Bradley Hill (Matteson, Ill.) — in dropping the Cardinals 87-61 setback at Robertson Center Gym.
 
Saint Mary's David Lindstrand (Lakeville, Minn.) set the tone of the evening, raining in a 3-pointer to open the scoring. Bethel, however, proved to have more long range weapons, using a 15-3 run — including 3-pointers by Matt Ambriz and Hudson Urbanus — to grab a 14-point, 29-15 advantage midway through the opening half.
 
The Cardinals cut the deficit to 11 twice on (what else?) 3-pointers by Sawyer Rosner (Phelps, Wis.) and Kevin Gleason (Minneapolis, Minn.). A half-ending 16-5 run, however — including three more Royal bombs — pushed Bethel's lead to 22, 48-26 at the break
 
Saint Mary's Eli Cave (St. Paul, Minn.) and Bethel's Ambriz put on a shooting clinic early in the second half, as Cave scored  eight of the Cardinals' first 10 points, while Ambriz delivered 11 of BU's first 15 — including a pair of 3-pointers — as Bethel pushed its advantage to 63-36 six minutes in.
 
The Royals' lead ballooned to a game-high 30, 68-38, with 11:44 remaining, before Hill took the offensive reigns from Cave — and torched the BU defense for 18 of the Cardinals' next 20 points.
 
Hill's Herculean second-half effort, however, proved to be too little, too late, as the Cardinal rally just ran out of time.
 
Hill — whose 18-point showing was a career-high — was one of two Cardinals to finish in double figures. Cave chipped in 15 points for Saint Mary's, which shot 40.3 percent from the field (25-for-62) with eight 3-pointers and hit 3 of 6 free throw attempts.
 
Bethel put four players in double figures — Ambriz (19), Urbanus (14), Jack Jenson (12), and Zeke Carver-Bagler (11). BU shot a sizzling 54.0 percent from the field (34-for-63) with 15 3-pointers and finished 4 of 12 from the free throw line.
 
The Cardinals (2-6 MIAC, 6-7 overall) are right back in action — and right back on the road — on Wednesday, heading to Carleton's West Gym in Northfield, Minn., for a 7 p.m. conference showdown against the Knights.