WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's basketball team — coming off a heartbreaking 67-64 loss to Hamline in their most recent outing — entered Wednesday's matchup against Saint John's determined to get back on the winning track.
 
The visiting Johnnies, however, had other ideas, holding off a later Cardinal charge in dealing Saint Mary's a 73-63 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
Kareem Anthony-Bello (Chicago, Ill.) got the Cardinals off and running, converting a layup less than 10 seconds into the first half for the game's first points — and it was non-stop action from there.
 
The Cardinals led by as many as five points twice in the first half — including 11-6 — only to have Saint John's use a 13-4 run to turn that five-point deficit into a four-point, 19-15 lead with 7:07 to play.
 
The Johnnies' run didn't seem to faze the Cardinal offense, which answered with back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers — one from Raheem Anthony (Chicago, Ill.) and two more from Caden Freetly (Farmington, Minn.) — to regain the lead, 21-19.
 
Saint John's would close out the half scoring 11 of the final 19 points to grab a one-point, 30-29 lead at the break.
 
Saint John's used a pair of offensive bursts — one an 8-0 run and the other a 7-2 spurt — en route to its largest lead of the game, 51-40, with just over 10 minutes to play.
 
Owen Ziegler (Mount Horeb, Wis.) and Anthony would then go on a scoring frenzy of their own to spark an 18-9 Cardinal run that cut the SJU lead to two, 60-58, with 7:18 left on the clock.
 
Six straight scoreless SMU possessions, however, opened the door for the Johnnies, who pushed their lead to five, 65-58 with 2:29 remaining in regulation.
 
An Anthony 3-pointer whittled the Johnnie lead to four, 65-61, but an SJU field goal and six Johnnie free throws iced the win for SJU.
 
Anthony led all scorers with 23 points, while Ziegler shot 60 percent from beyond the arc (3-for-5) and contributed 12 points for the Cardinals. Anthony-Bello and Freetly also scored in double figures for Saint Mary's, each chipping in 10 points.
 
Saint Mary's (1-2 MIAC, 1-3 overall) is back in action on Saturday, when the Cardinals travel to Duluth, Minn., for their first-ever MIAC showdown with St. Scholastica.