By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — When the Saint Mary's University men's basketball team squared off against Augsburg in the teams' first meeting on January 6, the Cardinals' Eli Cave (St. Paul, Minn.) poured in a season-high 32 points — outdueling the Auggies' high-scoring senior, Booker Coplin, who finished with 23 points.
 
Despite Cave's Herculean effort — just four points shy of his career-high — it was the Auggies that came out on top, beating the Cardinals 86-70.
 
Wednesday evening, Cave and the Cardinals squared off against Coplin and the Auggies for a second time.
 
After a season-high performance in their first meeting, Cave reached another milestone in their second — becoming the 27th player in program history to reach 1,000 career points with his field goal with 11 minutes remaining in the second half against the Auggies.
 
Unfortunately, Cave's effort, not to mention Raheem Anthony's (Chicago, Ill.) career-high 29-point performance, was not enough, as Augsburg pulled away in the second half to deal the Cardinals a 95-80 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback Wednesday evening at Si Melby Hall.
 
The Cardinals led by as many as eight, 23-15, with 12:31 remaining in the opening half, but the Auggies outscored Saint Mary's 31-13 the rest of the half to take a 46-36 lead at the break.
 
Saint Mary's would cut the gap to seven — twice — early in the second half, but Augsburg would quickly push the lead back to 10, 48-38, and the Cardinals would get no closer the rest of the way.
 
Anthony finished with a career-high 29 points on 8 of 11 field goals and a 13-for-28 showing from the free throw line, while Cave chipped in 25 points — including hitting the 1,000-point mark at 11:07 of the second half — and Sawyer Rosner (Phelps, Wis.) added 12 points.
 
Matt Carik tossed in 22 points and Coplin chipped in 21 for the Auggies, while Joe Palmer and Carter Duncan also scored in double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
 
The Cardinals (7-8 MIAC, 10-10 overall) return home on Saturday, as Saint Mary's entertains Bethel in a 1 p.m. conference contest at the Saint Mary's Gym. The Auggies (11-4 MIAC, 15-5), meanwhile, are back on their home court at Si Melby Hall in Minneapolis, Minn., on Saturday, playing host to nationally ranked Saint John's in a 1 p.m. MIAC matchup.