By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
ST. PAUL, Minn. — When the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's basketball team hosted Hamline in the teams' first meeting on Jan. 2 at the Saint Mary's Gym, the Cardinals' Eli Cave (St. Paul, Minn.) and Caden Freetly (Farmington, Minn.) combined for just 17 points in the Cardinals' 79-57 loss to the Pipers.
 
What a difference a month makes.
 
The Cardinal duo combined for 44 points — Cave pouring in 23 and Freetly adding a career best 21 — in the Cardinals' rematch with the Pipers Monday evening at Hutton Arena.
 
Unfortunately, that 44-point effort fell just short of leading the Cardinals to the conference victory, as Hamline got a 3-pointer from Trey Prince in the waning seconds, breaking a 65-65 tie and leading the Pipers to a 68-65 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win.
 
The Cardinals had the upper hand in the game's opening 20 minutes, breaking away from an early 9-9 deadlock to build leads as big as eight — 27-19 — before settling for a four-point, 32-28 advantage at the intermission.
 
The halftime break did nothing to cool off the Cardinals, who pushed their lead to a game-high 11, 43-32 on a Cave field goal with 14:51 remaining.
 
But as the Cardinals quickly learned, no lead was safe.
 
Hamline whittled away at Saint Mary's double-digit lead, taking its first lead since early in the first half, 54-53, with a 3-pointer by Prince and a pair of free throws by Isaac Brooks with nine minutes to play.
 
Over those final nine minutes, neither team would lead by more than two, and the game would be tied, 65-65 with 47 seconds to play when Cave knocked down one of two free throws.
 
Brooks missed a potential go-ahead 3-point attempt with 39 seconds remaining, but Lucas Berg corralled the offensive board, and, after an HU timeout, Prince drilled his dagger to give the Pipers the three-point win.
 
Cave finished 9 of 19 from the field en route to his team-leading 23 points, while Freetly — who also hauled in 12 rebounds in recording his second double-double of the season — went 6 of 14 from the field, including a perfect 5-for-5 from behind the 3-point line.
 
The Cardinals shot 41.1 percent from the field (23-for-56) with eight 3-opinters and an 11-for-15 showing from the free throw line. Hamline, meanwhile, hit 21 of 55 field goal attempts with six 3-pointers, while making the most of their time at the free throw line — hitting on 20 of 28 attempts.
 
Larson led a trio of Pipers in double figures, scoring 22 points, while Brooks chipped in 14 and Ethan Scheuring added 10.
 
After three straight road games, the Cardinals (3-14 MIAC, 7-15 overall) return home to the Saint Mary's Gym on Wednesday, playing host to Bethel in a 7 p.m. conference matchup.