WINONA, Minn. — Kareem Anthony-Bello (Chicago, Ill.) scored a team-high 17 points, and the Cardinals outscored Winona State 39-32 over the game's final 20 minutes, but it was not enough, as the Saint Mary's University men's basketball team dropped a 77-61 decision to the NCAA Division II Warriors Sunday afternoon at McCown Gym.
 
The Warriors took control from the opening tip, scoring the game's first six points and held a 12-point, 26-14 lead, before Jabari Sawyer (Chicago, Ill.) drained a 3-pointer to make it a nine-point Cardinal deficit with 7:15 to play in the first half.
 
That, however, would be as close as the Cardinals would get, as Winona State rattled off 11 unanswered points and pushed its lead to 23, 45-22 at the break.
 
Saint Mary's would whittle the deficit 14 twice in the second half — 71-57 on a layup by Shawn Pickford (Minneapolis, Minn.) and 75-61 on a bucket by Sawyer — but a pair of free throws by WSU's Dillon Declan with 1:05 to play put the game out of reach.
 
Along with Anthony-Bello's 17 points, the Cardinals also got 10 points from Sawyer, and eight each from Caden Freetly (Farmington, Minn.), Pickford, and Noah Frechette (Lakeville, Minn.).
 
Saint Mary's shot 34.8 percent from the field (23-for-66) and knocked down eight 3-pointers, while going 7-for-10 from the free throw line.
 
The Cardinals will officially kick off their 2021-22 season on Friday, when they welcome Crown to the Saint Mary's Gym for a 7 p.m. nonconference contest.