ST. PETER, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's basketball team has taken on the persona of the cardiac kids of late.
 
Take their last two games, for example.
 
Saint Mary's scored the game's final 15 to points to rally for a 66-58 victory over Bethel on Feb. 20.  Two days later, the Cardinals trailed by Augsburg by as many as 15 in the first half, and were staring at a 10-point deficit with less than eight minutes remaining, only to pull out an 81-79 win.
 
So, it should have surprised no one that the Cardinals were again staring at a double-digit first-half deficit Wednesday evening against Gustavus — or that Saint Mary's was down by six in the second half.
 
Unfortunately, this time around, Saint Mary's come-from-behind push fell one point short, as Gustavus held off the hard-charging Cardinals 61-60 in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match-up at Gus Young Court.
 
The Cardinals, who had their five-game winning streak snapped with the loss, found themselves staring at a 14-point, 22-8 deficit with just under eight minutes remaining in the opening half. Saint Mary's clawed its way back, getting as close as three points twice, before heading to the locker room at the intermission trailing by four, 32-28.
 
Gustavus pushed its lead to six on two occasions early in the second half, but SMU kicked its offense into overdrive, using a 10-2 run to take a 43-41 advantage — the Cardinals' first lead since Caden Freetly (Farmington, Minn.) drilled a 3-pointer to open the scoring 44 seconds into the first half.
 
Saint Mary's would build its lead to as many as five, 48-43, and held a four-point, 58-56, lead on another Freetly 3-pointer with 5:33 on the clock. GAC responded by scoring five of the next seven points — capped by a Nolan Malo bucket to give the Gusties the lead for good, 61-60, with 1:27 remaining.
 
The Cardinals had three chances over the final 1:27 to regain the lead, but came up empty each time in falling for the first time since dropping an 87-64 nonconference decision to nationally ranked Saint John's to open the season on Jan. 29.
 
Freetly led the way for the Cardinal offense, equaling his career high with a team-best 21 points on 7 of 15 shooting — including a 5-for-7 effort from behind the 3-point line — while Raheem Anthony (Chicago, Ill.) chipped in 13 points
 
As a team, Saint Mary's shot 36.9 percent from the field (24-for-65) with nine 3-pointers, while adding a 3-for-4 effort from the free throw line.
 
The Cardinals (2-1 MIAC, 5-2 overall) — who have now played three straight road games — finally return home on Saturday, playing host to Hamline in a 2 p.m. conference game at the Saint Mary's Gym.