COLLEGEVIILLE, Minn. — When the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's basketball team took the court Friday evening at Saint John's, it was the Cardinals' first competition since Feb. 27, 2020 — a span of 337 days.
 
Thanks to the Johnnies, however, the Cardinals will have to wait a few more days to pick up their first win of the season, as Saint John's raced out to a 21-point lead at halftime and rolled to a 87-64 nonconference win over Saint Mary's at Sexton Arena.
 
Raheem Anthony (Chicago, Ill.) showed no signs of rust from the long layoff for the Cardinals, scoring Saint Mary's first eight points — including a pair of long-distance 3-pointers.
 
As good as Anthony was early, however, the Johnnies were even better, building leads as big as 24, 43-19, before settling for a 21-point, 50-29 advantage at the break.
 
The Cardinals whittled the Johnnie lead to 14, 66-52, on a Kareem Anthony-Bello (Chicago, Ill.) 3-pointer with just under nine minutes to play, but the Johnnies responded with a 9-0 run — and the Cardinals never recovered.
 
Eli Cave (St. Paul, Minn.) — who scored 10 of the Cardinals' last 14 points of the first half — poured in 15 second-half points to lead all scorers with 27 points, while Anthony added 20 points, as the Cardinals' dynamic duo accounted for 47 of the team's 64 points.
 
Colton Codute and Zach Hanson each scored 21 points, with Mitchell Plombon (11) and Oakley Baker (10) also scoring in double figures for the Johnnies.
 
Saint Mary's (0-1 overall) is right back in action on Monday, as the Cardinals head to Hamline's Hutton Arena in St. Paul, Minn., for a 7 p.m. nonconference matchup against the Pipers.