By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — After three straight road games, the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's basketball team finally returns home to the Saint Mary's Gym on Wednesday, as the Cardinals entertain Bethel in a 7 p.m. MIAC showdown.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (3-14 MIAC, 7-15 Overall) vs. Bethel Royals (11-5 MIAC, 14-7 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats * Live Video
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's—February 4, 2019 * St. Paul, Minn.: The Cardinals boasted a pair of players with 20 or more points, but it was not enough, as Hamline's Trey Prince knocked down a 3-pointer with six seconds remaining in regulation to lift the Pipers to a 68-65 MIAC win over Saint Mary's at Hutton Arena | Recap
• Bethel—February 4, 2019 * Northfield, Minn.: The Royals knocked down 14 3-pointers  and got team-high 18-point efforts from Hudson Urbanus and Granger Kingland, as BU rolled to a 73-64 win over St. Olaf at Skoglund Center | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Bethel — Earlier This Year:
• January 7, 2019 * Arden Hills, Minn.: 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 downtown, 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 | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Bethel — A Year Ago:
• December 9, 2017 * Winona, Minn.: Saint Mary's struggled getting its offense on track, and the Royals opened the contest red-hot — knocking down 8 of 10 field goals for a quick 16-0 lead — as Bethel dealt the Cardinals an 81-60 conference setback at the Saint Mary's Gym | Recap
• February 3, 2018 * Arden Hills, Minn.: Bethel scored 12 of the game's first 14 points and slowly pulled away in handing the Cardinals an 81-40 conference setback at the Saint Mary's Gym | Recap


Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals are back on the road on Saturday for their final game away from the Saint Mary's Gym, as Saint Mary's heads to Macalester's Leonard Center for a 3 p.m. conference showdown against Macalester.
• Bethel: The Royals return to Robertson Center Gym in Arden Hills, Minn., hosting Concordia in BU's final home contest of the regular-season. Game time is slated for 3 p.m.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals: 
2018-19 Roster | 2018-19 Schedule | 2018-19 Statistics
• Wednesday's game against Bethel is the fourth of five games in a 10-day stretch for the Cardinals. … Nine of the Cardinals' 15 losses this season have been by 10 points or less — including Monday's 68-65 loss to Hamline. … Eli Cave (St. Paul, Minn.) and Caden Freetly (Farmington, Minn.) accounted for 44 of the Cardinals' 65 points in Monday's 68-65 loss to Hamline — Cave scored a game-high 23 points, while Freetly chipped in a career-best 21. … Saint Mary's has had two players score 20 or more points in the same game three times this season — including twice in the last three games. Cave and Rosner each finished with 24 points against St. Olaf on Jan. 24, while Cave and Kareem Anthony-Bello (Chicago, Ill.) recorded 29 and 21 points, respectively, against Gustavus on Dec. 8. … The Cardinals have now had a player score a career-high of 10 or more points in each of the last three games. Bradley Hill (Matteson, Ill.) tossed in a career-best 19 points against Augsburg last Saturday, while Sawyer Rosner (Phelps, Wis.) poured in a career-high 24 points against St. Olaf on Jan. 31. … Along with his career-high 21 points, Freetly also matched his collegiate-best with 12 rebounds against the Pipers for his second double-double of the season. … Cave leads the team with three double-doubles, while Rosner owns Saint Mary's other two. … Thanks to his 23 points against Hamline Monday, Cave has led or shared the team lead in scoring 14 times this season. … Cave has scored 10 or more points in 21 of the team's 22 contests this season — including seven games of 20 or more points. … Cave poured in a season- and career-high 35 points in the Cardinals' nonconference win over Martin Luther on Nov. 17. … Cave's 35-point effort was the highest single-game performance since Michael Burfeind netted 38 against Concordia on Dec. 7, 2011. … The Cardinals boast 11 players who have posted single-game career-highs of 10 or more points this season — Cave (35), Rosner (24), Freetly (21), Kevin Gleason (Minneapolis, Minn. / 22), Anthony-Bello (21), Jakob Bailey (Cameron, Wis. / 19), David Lindstrand (Lakeville, Minn. / 19), Hill (19), Jacob Chilson (Eau Claire, Wis. / 15), Nicolas Seaton (Lansing, Ill. / 12), and Brady Stevens (St. James, Minn. / 12). … Cave heads into Wednesday's conference matchup against Bethel averaging a team-best 18.2 ppg — ranking the sophomore No. 4 in scoring in the MIAC. … Rosner is second on the team in scoring at 9.9 ppg, followed by Gleason (9.5 ppg), and Freetly (9.3 ppg). … Along with his 18.2 ppg scoring average, Cave also leads the team in rebounds (151, 6.9 rpg) and assists (80). … Freetly (122, 5.2 rpg) and Rosner (85, 4.3 rpg) have also collected 80 or more rebounds this season. … Freetly boasts a team-best 20 blocked shots and also leads the team in steals with 21, four more than Rosner. … As a team, the Cardinals are shooting 42.6 percent from the field (559-for-1313) and are 202-for-283 (71.4 percent) from the free throw line. … Saint Mary's has drained a single-season school record 204 3-pointers — including a single-game school-record 14 against Gustavus on Dec. 5. The 204 treys are 15 more than the previous record of 189, set during the 1995-96 season… The Cardinals have knocked down 10 or more 3-pointers in a game 11 times this season. … Saint Mary's has seven players with 10 or more 3-pointers this season — Gleason (39), Rosner (38), Freetly (37), Cave (26), Hill (19), Anthony-Bello (12), and Bailey (10). … Saint Mary's is averaging 69.3 ppg, while the Cardinals' opponents are scoring at a 75.8 ppg clip … After scoring more than 80 points just once in their first 19 games, the Cardinals have scored 85 and 80 points in two of their last three contests. … The Cardinals have scored 70 or more points in each of their seven wins this season — including a season-high 86 points against Gustavus on Dec. 8. … Saint Mary's put a season-high five players in double figures against Gustavus on Jan. 26. … The Cardinals' 90-85 loss to St. Olaf on Jan. 31 was their first overtime game of the season — and first since dropping a 111-106 OT decision to Augsburg on Jan. 11, 2017. … The Cardinals put to rest another pair of long streaks with their 79-64 win over Gustavus on Jan. 26. Not only did Saint Mary's snap its season-high eight-game losing streak, but the Cardinals also completed the two-game MIAC sweep of the Gusties — something they had not done since the 1979-80 season, when SMU beat GAC 86-78 and 91-81. … Earlier this year, the Cardinals snapped a 19-game road losing streak with their season-opening 76-71 win at Crown on Nov. 10. Saint Mary's also ended a 27-game conference losing streak with a 71-64 win over Concordia on Dec. 5, and, three days later, SMU halted a 35-game road losing streak against Gustavus, beating the Gusties 86-81. It was Saint Mary's first win in St. Peter, since beating GAC 86-82 in overtime during the 1982-83 season. … With their 76-67 win over North Park on Dec. 29, the Cardinals closed out the nonconference portion of their schedule with a 4-1 mark — the lone loss, a 70-60 setback against UW-La Crosse on Nov. 11. … Saint Mary's 3-1 start to the season was its best since the 2010-11 season, when the Cardinals opened 8-1. … With their 76-71 win over Crown on Nov. 10, the Cardinals have now won their season-opener in each of their last five seasons. … Saint Mary's season-opening win over Crown on Nov. 10 was the first collegiate coaching victory for Cardinal head coach Joe Fano.
 
Scouting The Bethel Royals:
2018-19 Roster | 2018-19 Schedule | 2018-19 Statistics
• Wednesday's game at Saint Mary's is the second straight road game for the Royals, who play their final home contest on Saturday against Concordia, before closing out the regular season with two more road games next Wednesday and Saturday. … With their 73-64 win over St. Olaf on Monday, the Royals pushed their season-high winning streak to six straight. BU has not lost since dropping an 86-75 decision to league-leading St. Thomas on Jan. 16. … Bethel heads into Wednesday's showdown against Saint Mary's tied for third in the league standing with Augsburg at 11-5. St. Thomas (16-0) and Saint John's (13-3) have already locked up berths in the six-team MIAC playoffs, with Bethel, Augsburg, St. Olaf (10-5), Gustavus (7-10), and Hamline (7-10) battling for the other four spots. … Bethel knocked down 14 3-pointers in its 73-64 victory over St. Olaf Monday — it was the ninth time this season the Royals have netted 10 or more treys and was one shy of the season-high 15 they poured in against Saint Mary's in the teams' first meeting on Jan. 7. … Granger Kingland and Hudson Urbanus each scored 18 points and Tyler Barker added 12 in the Royals' win over St. Olaf Monday. … The Royals head into Wednesday's matchup against Saint Mary's boasting four players — Kingland (15.3 ppg), Derek Magnuson (14.5 ppg), Jack Jenson (13.0 ppg), and Matt Ambriz (12.2 ppg) — averaging in double figures. … Jenson owns the team's top single-game scoring performance, netting 34 points against Augsburg on Dec. 1. … Kingland and Magnuson share the team lead with 163 rebounds each, while Jenson is just four boards shy of reaching 100 rebounds for the season. … Tyler Barker has dished out a team- and conference-leading 108 assists, while Jenson owns the team lead in steals with 31, nine in front of both Jenson and Kingland. … As a team, the Royals are shooting 45.8 percent from the field (574-for-1254) and have hit on 247 of 351 free throw attempts (70.4 percent). … Bethel has drained 192 3-pointers — led by Ambriz (53), Kingland (45), Urbanus (22), and Jenson (21). … Bethel is averaging 75.5 ppg, while the Royals' opponents are scoring at a 70.4 ppg clip. … The Royals have scored 80 or more points eight times this season — including a season-high 100-point effort in dropping Crown 100-79 on Nov. 20.