NORTHFIELD, Minn. — When the Saint Mary's University men's basketball took to the court Wednesday evening against St. Olaf, the Cardinals boasted the conference's leading scorer — not to mention the reigning MIAC Athlete of the Week — in junior Raheem Anthony (Chicago, Ill.).
 
In his last two outings, Anthony had put up astronomical numbers — scoring 23 points against Saint John's and a career-best 35 against St. Scholastica — pushing his league-leading scoring average to 24.0 ppg.
 
And the Oles had a front-row seat, as Anthony put on yet another offensive clinic, scoring 24 points — including a half-court buzzer-beater at the end of the half — in leading Saint Mary's to a 63-60 victory over St. Olaf at Skoglund Center.
 
St. Olaf appeared to have things under control early in the second half, building a 10-point, 21-11 lead, only to have Saint Mary's come charging back — with Anthony leading the charge. The Cardinals erased that 10-point deficit and grabbed a one-point, 24-23 advantage on a Kareem Anthony-Bello (Chicago, Ill.) 3-pointer with 4:46 to play in the opening half.
 
St. Olaf would regain the upper hand and held a three-point, 33-30 lead in the waning seconds of the half — only to have Anthony launch a half-court, buzzer-beater that pulled Saint Mary's even, 33-33 at the break.
 
The Cardinals grabbed one-point leads three times early in the second half — 39-38 on an Anthony-Bello 3-pointer, 39-38 on two Anthony free throws, and 41-40 on a Noah Frechette (Lakeville, Minn.) layup — but St. Olaf had an answer each time, and boasted a five-point, 50-45 lead with 9:00 remaining in regulation.
 
That lead quickly vanished, however, as Saint Mary's scored 18 of the next 23 points – including seven points from Anthony — to grab its largest lead of the game, 63-55 with :31 seconds remaining.
 
The Oles made things interesting in the waning seconds, getting a 3-pointer from Dominic Bledsoe and a field goal from Michael Meriggioli to cut the SMU lead to three — and had a look at a game-tying 3-pointer, but couldn't get it to fall.
 
Along with Anthony's team-high 24 points — his third straight 20+ point performance — the Cardinals got 11 points from both Anthony-Bello and Breyton Buysman (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.). Saint Mary's — which won for the first time in Northfield, Minn., since beating the Oles 66-57 on Jan. 16, 2013 — shot 44.9 percent from the field with nine 3-pointers and added a 10-for-18 showing from the free throw line.
 
The Cardinals (3-2 MIAC, 3-3 overall) are back in action on Saturday, when they return home for a 3 p.m. conference showdown against Bethel.