By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — Eli Cave (St. Paul, Minn.) won the battle between two of the conference's leading scorers Monday evening.
 
Unfortunately, it was Augsburg that won the war, holding off the hard-charging Cardinals in dealing the Saint Mary's men's basketball team an 86-79 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
Cave poured in a game-high 32 points, just four points shy of his career-high, while the Auggies' Booker Copland — who entered Monday's game as the MIAC's leading scorer — finished with 23 points.
 
But the Cardinal junior's Herculean effort — which also included a career-high nine assists, six rebounds, and five steals — was not quite enough against the Auggies, who scored 14 of the game's final 22 points to seal the victory.
 
Cave set the tone of the game from the opening tip, netting the Cardinals' first six points as Saint Mary's matched the Auggies blow-for-blow, trailing just 16-11 with 13:50 to play in the opening half.
 
And then the teams began "running" — and never stopped.
 
Augsburg rattled off 13 unanswered points — highlighted by back-to-back 3-pointers by Henry Mulligan — to push its lead to a half-high 18, 29-11, midway through the half.
 
Unfazed, the Cardinals answered — and then some — scoring the game's next 14 points — punctuated by a Cave 3-pointer and back-to-back treys by Shawn Pickford (Minneapolis, Minn.) — to get Saint Mary's within four, 29-25 at the six-minute mark.
 
Over those final six minutes, however, Augsburg outscored the Cardinals 16-3 — including ending the half with 12 consecutive points — to take a 13-point, 45-28 lead into the break.
 
It was more of the same in the second half, as Augsburg ran its lead to 19, 51-32, only to have Saint Mary's answer with back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers — the first by Sawyer Rosner (Phelps, Wis.), followed by treys from Kevin Gleason (Minneapolis, Minn.) and Cave — to cut the deficit to 10, 51-41 just four minutes in.
 
Augsburg pushed its lead back to 15, 56-41, but again the Cardinals had an answer, rattling off 12 straight points to whittle the lead to three, 56-53. The Cardinals got within two twice — 61-59 and 63-61 — but that was as close as they would get, as Augsburg weathered every Saint Mary's storm down the stretch to seal the win.
 
Along with Cave's 32-point effort, the Cardinals — who shot 46.5 percent from the field (33-for-71 with 10 3-pointers — got 10 points each from Gleason and Rosner.
 
Coplin finished with 23 points and 14 rebounds to lead four Auggie players in double figures. Henry Mulligan chipped in 18 points, followed by Matt Carik with 17 and Carter Duncan with 11. Augsburg finished 30-for-54 (55.6 percent) from the field and drained 13 3-pointers, while going 13 of 16 from the free throw line.
 
The Cardinals (3-3 MIAC, 6-5 overall) are right back in action on Wednesday, returning home to the Saint Mary's Gym for a 7 p.m. conference showdown against Gustavus. The Auggies (4-2, 8-3 overall), meanwhile, hit the road against on Wednesday, heading across town to Bethel's Robertson Center Gym in Arden Hills, Minn., for a 7 p.m. MIAC matchup against the Royals.