By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
NORTHFIELD, Minn. — For the second time in as many meetings between Carleton and the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's basketball team, Wednesday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference showdown went right down to the wire.
 
Unfortunately for Saint Mary's, for the second straight meeting, the Knights rallied from a late second-half deficit to beat the Cardinals — this time 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.
 
 Carleton burst out of the gates quickly, jumping out to a nine-point, 17-8 lead just six minutes into the opening half, but the Cardinals trimmed that deficit to five, 34-29 heading into the locker room at the half.
 
A 7-2 run to open the second half pulled the Cardinals even, and neither team would lead by more than four until Kevin Gleason (Minneapolis, Minn.) buried a 3-pointer with 2:42 remaining to give Saint Mary's a 65-59 cushion.
 
A pair of free throws by Joh Farmer and a layup by Kent Hanson whittled the Saint Mary's lead to two, but the Cardinals' Sawyer Rosner (Phelps, Wis.) answered with a 3-pointer to push the advantage back to five, 68-63.
 
And that's when the Knights turned to Stritzel.
 
Stritzel buried the first of his three straight 3-pointers to cut the Saint Mary's lead to two, 68-66, and, after Rosner drained a pair of free throws, added 3-pointers No. 2 and No. 3 to give Carleton the lead for good, 72-70.
 
Carleton sandwiched single free throws from Noah Plewa and Hanson around a free throw by Saint Mary's Caden Freetly (Farmington, Minn.) to seal the win.
 
Gleason led the Cardinals in scoring, netting a season-best 19 points — just one point shy of his career high — while Rosner added 13 points, and Freetly and Bradley Hill (Matteson, Ill.) each chipped in 12.
 
The Cardinals shot 46.4 percent from the field (26-for-56 — and drained 10 3-pointers — while going 9 of 15 from the free throw line. Carleton, which shot 45.8 percent from the field (27-for-59), was led by Hanson with 19 points and Stritzel with 18.
 
Saint Mary's (2-7 MIAC, 6-8 overall) return to action on Saturday, playing host to Macalester in a 3 p.m. conference contest at the Saint Mary's Gym.