WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University and Bethel men's basketball teams both entered Saturday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference showdown red-hot — the Cardinals had won back-to-back games, while the Royals were riding a three-game winning streak.
 
One streak was going to come to an end when the teams exited the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, it was theirs.
 
Bethel outscored Saint Mary's 45-29 over the game's final 20 minutes, erasing a four-point Cardinal halftime lead en route to a 70-58 victory.
 
The Cardinals spread the wealth through the game's opening 11 minutes, getting field goals from five different players — Zach Kjeseth (Wabasha, Minn.), Nick Falls (Plymouth, Minn.), Raheem Anthony (Chicago, Ill.), Hunter Phillips (Minong, Wis.) and a 3-pointer by Cameron Mallory (Joliet, Ill.) — and led 11-10 with 10:56 to play.
 
Bethel, which was 0-for-6 on its first six 3-point attempts, knocked down back-to-back treys by Jaren Tschetter and Joey Kidder, and got a Zach Doely dunk to grab an 18-13 advantage with 4:55 until halftime.
 
The Royals would match that five-point lead one more time in the first half, but a pair of 3-pointers by Caden Freetly (Farmington, Minn.) and a buzzer-beating bomb by Kareem Anthony-Bello (Chicago, Ill.) sparked a 13-4 half-ending run to give Saint Mary's a 29-25 edge at the break.
 
Bethel served up a heavy dose of Doely to open the second half, as Doely scored 12 of BU's first 15 points in helping the Royals to a 40-35 lead. Saint Mary's — behind six points from Anthony and four from Jabari Sawyer (Chicago, Ill.) — regained the lead, 46-45 with 9:52 on the clock.
 
That, however, would be the last time Saint Mary's would play with the lead, as Bethel rattled off nine unanswered points and built leads as big as 12 twice — including the 70-58 final score — in snapping Saint Mary's two-game win streak.
 
All 11 players that saw the court for SMU scored at least two points, led by Anthony's team-high 17 points, while Freetly chipped in 11. As a team, Saint Mary's shot 36.1 percent from the field (29-for-62) with seven 3-pointers and ended up 7 of 11 from the free throw line.
 
The Cardinals (3-3 MIAC, 3-4 overall) step out of conference play for their next three contests before the end of the year, hosting UW-La Crosse in a 7 p.m. contest on Wednesday, before heading to Las Vegas, Nev., for games against UW-Suiperior and nationally ranked Mary Hardin-Baylor on Dec. 28 and Dec. 30.