By
DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
WINONA, Minn. — Final exams officially ended on Tuesday, but the Saint Mary's University men's basketball team had one more test before the holiday break.
A test the Cardinals passed with flying colors.
Saint Mary's put three players in double figures — led by
James Connolly (Round Lake Park, Ill.) and
Sawyer Rosner (Phelps, Wis.) — and cruised to its fourth straight win, a convincing 93-61 nonconference win over Martin Luther Thursday at the Saint Mary's Gym.
Martin Luther scored the game's first basket, and held a 7-5 advantage early, but that would be the only time the Knights would play with the lead, as Saint Mary's grabbed an 11-point, 24-13 lead midway through the first half and pushed that cushion to as many as 18 twice — including 47-29 at the break on a
Kevin Gleason (Minneapolis, Minn.) 3-pointer.
It was more of the same in the second half, as the Cardinals slowly pulled away, building the lead to 20, 65-45 with 11 minutes remaining.
And the Cardinals were just getting warmed up.
Zach Kjeseth (Wabasha, Minn.) and Connolly sparked a 10-0 Cardinal run — Kjeseth draining back-to-back buckets and Connolly adding a pair of field goals of his own, including a thunderous coast-to-coast steal and dunk — to give Saint Mary's a 75-45 lead.
The Cardinal advantage would grow to as many as 35, before settling for the 32-point win thanks to a pair of free throws by
Tyler Engel (Edgar, Wis.).
Rosner and Connolly both finished with a team-leading 11 points to pace the Cardinals, who shot 46.8 percent from the field (29-for-62) — including 10 3-pointers — while adding a 25-for-30 effort from the free throw line.
Eli Cave (St. Paul, Minn.) also finished in double figures, finishing with 10 points for the Cardinals — who got scoring from 15 different players.
Austin DeNoyer and Jonathan Riebe led the way for Martin Luther, scoring 11 and 10 points, respectively. The Knights went 26-for-64 from the field (40.6%), but were just 4 of 16 from behind the arc and 5 of 13 from the free throw line.
The Cardinals (6-1 overall) are now off until Dec. 30-31, when they head to Carol Stream, Ill., to take part in the Wheaton (Ill.) Tournament. Saint Mary's will face host Wheaton at 7 p.m. on Dec. 30, with their opponent and game time the following day to be determined. The Knights (2-8 overall), meanwhile, do not play again until Jan. 8, when they return home to the LSC Gymnasium in New Ulm, Minn., for a UMAC showdown against St. Scholastica.
