By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's basketball team knew trying to shut down the conference's leading scorer was going to be a tall order when the Cardinals took the court Saturday afternoon against Augsburg.
 
What the Cardinals didn't expect, however, was that the Auggies' Booker Coplin — and his league-leading 25.5 ppg scoring average — wasn't the problem.
 
Martin Mitchell was.
 
Mitchell came off the bench to score a career-high 30 points — including eight 3-pointers — as the Auggies held off a late Saint Mary's charge to deal the Cardinals a 90-80 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback at Si Melby Hall.
 
The Cardinals could do no wrong in the early going of the first half, surrendering the game's opening basket, but then rattling off 12 unanswered points to grab a 10-oint, 12-2 lead. Augsburg whittled the lead to three, 28-25 with just under six minutes remaining — and then turned the reigns over to Mitchell.
 
And the junior took over — knocking down five 3-pointers, giving him six for the half, to give the Auggies a nine-point, 42-33 lead. Saint Mary's would answer with six consecutive points — on baskets by Kevin Gleason (Minneapolis, Minn.), Drake Flom (Ellsworth, Wis.) and Caden Freetly (Farmington, Minn.) — to cut the deficit to three, 42-39 at the half.
 
It was another hot start for the Cardinals to open the second half, scoring 10 of the first 14 points — including five from Bradley Hill (Matteson, Ill.) — to give the Cardinals a 49-46 lead early on.
 
Another Mitchell bomb, however, gave the Auggies the lead for good, 52-51 with 15 minutes remaining in regulation. Augsburg pushed its lead to eight, 63-55 with 8:50 to play, only to have the Cardinals come storming back, making it a three-point game on two separate occasions, including 65-62 with just over seven minutes on the clock.
 
That, however, would be as close as the Cardinals would get, as Augsburg padded its lead to 10, 79-69 and never let the Cardinals closer than five points down the stretch to seal the win.
 
Hill enjoyed a career afternoon for the Cardinals, scoring 19 points — going 7-for-11 from the field with four 3-pointers — while Freetly equaled that 19-point effort. The Cardinal duo were two of four Saint Mary's players who finished in double figures, with Eli Cave (St. Paul, Minn.) chipping in 17 and Gleason delivering 15.
 
Saint Mary's shot 43.4 percent from the field (33-for-76) — including a 12-for-29 effort from beyond the 3-point line. The Cardinals went to the free throw line just four times, connecting on two of the four.
 
Augsburg, which went 29-for-64 from the field (45.3 percent) and drained 11 3-pointers — eight coming from Mitchell, including a perfect 6-for-6 in the first half — put three players in double figures. Along with Mitchell's 30 points, the Auggies also got 26 from Coplin and 19 from Kevin McKiernan. Matt Carik had a rare double-double for Augsburg, hauling in 16 rebounds and dishing out 13 assists.
 
The Cardinals (3-13 MIAC, 7-14 overall) are back on the road on Monday, as they travel to Hamline's Hutton Arena in St. Paul, Minn., for a 7 p.m. MIAC tilt against the Pipers.