By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's basketball team is back in tournament play on Thursday, as the Cardinals — fresh off the program's first-ever postseason victory — heads to St. Thomas' Schoenecker Arena for a 7 p.m. MIAC Tournament semifinal showdown against second-seeded St. Thomas.
 
The Matchup:
• #5 Saint Mary's Cardinals (14-12 Overall) at #2 St. Thomas Tommies (23-2 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats * Live Video | MIAC Tournament Homepage
 
The MIAC Tournament Schedule
Quarterfinals | Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2020 * 7:00 p.m.
• No. 6 St. Olaf 76, No. 3 Augsburg 68 | Box Score
• No. 5 Saint Mary's 75, No. 4 Bethel 59 | Box Score
Semifinals | Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020 * 7:00 p.m.
• No. 6 St. Olaf at No. 1 Saint John's
• No. 5 Saint Mary's at No. 2 St. Thomas
Championship | Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020 * 7:00 p.m.
• Highest remaining seed will host
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's — February 25, 2020 * Robertson Center Gym * Arden Hills, Minn.: Eli Cave (St. Paul, Minn.) scored a game-high 27 points and the Cardinals built leads as big as 26 points in the second half, as Saint Mary's picked up the program's first-ever post-season win with a 72-59 quarterfinal victory over Bethel | Recap
• St. Thomas — February 22, 2020 * Schoenecker Arena * St. Paul, Minn.: The Tommies have been off since closing out the regular-season schedule with a 74-72, last-second win over Saint Mary's | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. St. Thomas — Earlier This Year:
• January 18, 2020 * Saint Mary's Gym * Winona, Minn.: St. Thomas knocked down 12 second-half 3-pointers — including eight in a span of seven minutes — as the Tommies pulled away for an 81-64 conference win over the Cardinals | Recap
• February 22, 2020 * Schoenecker Arena * St. Paul, Minn.: St. Thomas rallied from a 19-point second-half deficit, and scored the game's final four points — including a game-winning layup by Riley Miller with 0.9 seconds remaining — to lift the Tommies to a 74-72 regular-season ending win over the upset-minded Cardinals | Recap
 
How They Got Here:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals landed the No. 5 seed in the six-team tournament, thanks to a 10-10 conference mark, and picked up the program's first-ever postseason win with Tuesday's 72-59 quarterfinal win over Bethel.
• St. Thomas: The Tommies finished tied with Saint John's atop the regular-season standings with a 19-1 MIAC mark — with their lone loss coming against the Johnnies. As a result, the only way to break the tie was by coin flip. Shortly after Saturday's games went final, the coin flip determined that Saint John's would be the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, followed by St. Thomas at No. 2. 
  
Up Next:
• The winners of Thursday's semifinal matchups — Saint Mary's at St. Thomas and St. Olaf at Saint John's — will meet on Saturday, at the site of the highest remaining seed. The game is tentatively scheduled for 7:00 p.m. The MIAC Tournament champion will receive the postseason championship plaque and the conference's automatic bid to the 2020 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament.
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2019-20 Roster | 2019-20 Schedule | 2019-20 Statistics
• Saint Mary's — making its first MIAC Tournament appearance since 1985, when they dropped a 64-56 decision to Hamline — collected the program's first postseason victory on Tuesday with its 72-59 quarterfinal win over Bethel. … Saint Mary's enters Thursday's showdown at St. Thomas with a 14-12 overall record. The 14 wins are the most overall wins since going 15-10 during the 1984-85 campaign. … Saint Mary's closed out conference play with a 10-10 mark, the most conference wins since going 11-9 during the 1999-2000 season. … Saint Mary's enters Thursday's tournament semifinal against St. Thomas having won four of their last six, and six of their last nine. … With their win at Bethel in the MIAC quarterfinals on Tuesday, the Cardinals snapped a 25-game losing streak at BU's Robertson Center, dating back to an 82-68 win on Feb. 9, 1997. It was the Cardinals' second streak-snapping win against the Royals this season. Saint Mary's-59 win over BU in the team's second meeting on Feb. 8 snapped a 14-game losing streak against the Royals, dating back to Jan. 12, 2013. … Eli Cave (St. Paul, Minn.) poured in a game-high 27 points in leading the Cardinals over Bethel on Tuesday. It was the fourth straight game in which the Cardinals' leading scorer netted 20 or more points — Sawyer Rosner (Phelps, Wis.) delivered a career-high 25 points in the Cardinals' regular season-ending 74-72 loss to St. Thomas last Saturday, while Cave netted 20 and 21 against Gustavus and Hamline in the two games prior. … Saint Mary's has now had a player score 20 or more points in a game 18 times this season — including 13 by Cave, two by Rosner, two by Raheem Anthony (Chicago, Ill.), and one by Kareem Anthony-Bello. … With his 19th point against Augsburg on Feb. 5 — a jumper with 11 minutes remaining in the second half — Cave became the 29th player in program history to reach the 1,000-career point mark. Cave enters Thursday's matchup against St. Thomas with 1,120 career points. … Cave — owner of 23 career 20-plus point games — scored a season-high 32 points against Augsburg on Jan. 6. The 32-point effort was just four points shy of his career-high — a 36-point showing against Macalester on Feb. 9, 2019 — and marked the third time in his Saint Mary's career that he has eclipsed the 30-point barrier. … Anthony scored a career-high 29 points against Augsburg on Feb. 5, while Cave chipped in 25. It was the third time this season the Cardinals have had two players score 20 or more points in the same game. Cave scored 27 points and Anthony-Bello chipped in 20 in the Cardinals' 78-62 win over Concordia on Feb. 1, while Cave (27) and Anthony (26) achieved the feat against Luther on Nov. 30. … Cave has scored 10 or more points in all 26 Cardinal games this season — in in 51 of a possible 52 games over the past two seasons. …  Rosner's career-high 25-point effort against St. Thomas last Saturday was the third time in his collegiate career that the junior has scored 20 or more points in a game. … Rosner scored 14 points and added 10 rebounds against the University of Dubuque on Dec. 31. It was his first double-double of the season and third of his collegiate career. … Cave recorded his first double-double of the season and seventh of his collegiate career with 13 points and a career-high 13 rebounds against St. Thomas in their first meeting on Jan. 18. … Anthony — who, along with his career-high 26 points, posted a career-best 11 rebounds in recording his first collegiate double-double against Luther on Nov. 30 — owns two of the Cardinals' four double-doubles this season. … The Cardinals boast four players who have scored single-game career-highs of 10 of more points this season — Anthony (29 v. Augsburg on Feb. 5), Rosner (25 vs. St. Thomas on Feb. 22), Shawn Pickford (Minneapolis, Minn. / 17 points vs. Gustavus on Jan. 8), and Greg Martin (Oklahoma City, Okla. / 14 points v. St. Olaf on Jan. 25 and v. U. of Dubuque on Dec. 31). … Cave — who has led or shared the team lead in scoring in 20 of the team's 26 games — enters Thursday's MIAC Tournament semifinal at St Thomas leading the team in scoring, averaging 19.4 ppg, followed by Anthony (11.0 ppg), Rosner (9.4 ppg), and Anthony-Bello (9.5 ppg). … The Cardinals boast four players with 100 or more rebounds — Cave (141, 5.4 rpg), Anthony-Bello (131, 5.0 rpg), Anthony (129, 6.1 rpg), and Rosner (110, 4.2 rpg). … Cave also leads the team in assists with 78, steals with 40 — one more than Anthony-Bello — and blocked shots with 21. … The Cardinals knocked down 11 3-pointers against St. Thomas on Feb. 22, marking the ninth time this season they have netted 10 or more treys in a game. … Saint Mary's equaled the program's single-game school record with 14 3-pointers against Hamline on Jan. 11. … Saint Mary's, which drained a single-season school record 233 3-pointers a year ago has netted 200 3-pointers this season. … Rosner leads the team with 44 3-pointers — including seven against St. Thomas last Saturday — followed by Cave (40), Anthony-Bello (39), Kevin Gleason (37), and Pickford (11). … As a team, Saint Mary's is 701-for-1573 (.446) from the field — including 200-for-571 (.350) from behind the arc — and is 294-for-435 (.676) from the free throw line. … Saint Mary's went 25-for-30 from the free throw line against Martin Luther on Dec. 19 — both season highs. On the flip side, the Cardinals attempted just five free throws — making all five — against Carleton on Feb. 12. … The Cardinals' 103-point effort in beating Luther 103-97 on Nov. 30 was their highest single-game offensive output since pouring in 106 points in a 111-106 overtime loss to Augsburg on Jan. 11, 2017. … The Cardinals have put five players in double figures three times this season. … The Cardinals have scored 80 or more points in a game five times this season — and 11 times in the last two seasons. … Saint Mary's two-point win over Carleton on Jan. 20 was its first overtime game of the season — and first since falling to St. Olaf 90-85 on Jan. 31, 2019. … The Cardinals have played just four overtime games in the last seven seasons. …  With its 80-74 win over St. Olaf in the teams' first meeting on Nov. 23, Saint Mary's snapped a 12-game losing streak against the Oles. It was the Cardinals' first win over St. Olaf since Jan. 16, 2013, when Saint Mary's posted a 66-57 victory. … The Cardinals' 77-67 loss to Wheaton on Dec. 30 snapped their season-high four-game winning streak, while their 87-73 win over Hamline on Jan. 11 ended their season-high five-game losing streak. … Saint Mary's got scoring from 15 different players in its 93-61 win over Martin Luther on Dec. 19. … The Cardinals' 6-1 start to the season was their best start since 2010-11, when they opened the year 8-1. … With their 68-52 win over Crown Nov. 15, the Cardinals have now beaten Crown in their season-opener in back-to-back years — Saint Mary's season-opening win over Crown a year ago was the first collegiate coaching victory for Joe Fano. … Thanks to its 68-52 win over Crown on Nov. 15, Saint Mary's is now 6-0 in its last six season-openers.


Scouting The St. Thomas Tommies:
2019-20 Roster | 2019-20 Schedule | 2019-20 Statistics
• The Tommies head into Thursday's tournament semifinal against Saint Mary's riding a 12-game winning streak. UST has not lost since dropping an 87-70 decision to Saint John's in the teams' first meeting on Jan. 11. UST's only other loss this season was an 85-64 setback at the hands of Whitworth on Nov. 16. … St. Thomas enters postseason play ranked No. 2 in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25. The No. 2 ranking is the program's highest since March 2016, when the Tommies won the national championship. … St. Thomas is making its MIAC-record 31st appearance in the conference tournament. The Tommies have won a league-best 13 MIAC playoff titles with their last postseason championship coming in 2015. … St. Thomas will take the court on Thursday boasting three players who are averaging in double figures in scoring — Anders Nelson (15.1 ppg), Elijah Hannah (11.7 ppg), and Tommy Anderson (10.7 ppg). … Burt Hedstrom owns a team-high 113 rebounds (4.5 rpg), followed by Nelson (101, 4.0 rpg) and Hannah (89, 3.6 rpg). … Riley Miller has amassed a team-best 71 assists, seven in front of Nelson, who also owns a team-leading 38 steals. … As a team, St. Thomas has knocked down 278 3-pointers — and boasts six players with 30 or more treys. Nelson and Ryan Lindberg lead the UST sharpshooters with 40 3-pointers each, followed by Miller (38), Zach Theisen (33), Hedstrom (35), and Anderson (30). … Fifteen of the 18 Tommie players had netted at least one 3-pointer this season. … St. Thomas put up a season-high 40 3-point attempts last Saturday against Saint Mary's, making just 10. … As a team, the Tommies are 727-for-1499 (48.5 percent) from the field — including 278-for-711 (39.1 percent) from behind the 3-point line — and are 332 of 445 from the free throw line. … The Tommies are averaging 82.6 ppg, while limiting their opponents to just 65.9 ppg. … St. Thomas — 40-0 over the last two seasons when holding its opponents under 78 points — has scored 90 or more points five times this season — including three games of 100 or more points. UST netted 101 points in beating Augsburg 101-60 on Jan. 29, tallied 106 points in a 106-67 win over Gustavus on Feb. 1 and delivered a season-high 110 points in routing St. Scholastica 110-64 on Nov. 20. … St. Thomas' 71-66 win over then-No. 2 Saint John's on Feb. 15 marked the fifth time in the last five seasons that the Tommies have beaten a Top 5-ranked Division III team. All five of those marquee victories have come away from Schoenecker Arena. … The Tommies' 23 season wins this season include five against teams with 18 or more victories. They ended the Johnnies' 22-game win streak 11 days ago, avenging a 17-point home loss to SJU inflicted five weeks earlier.