WINONA, Minn. — After three straight road games, the Saint Mary's University men's basketball team returned home to the friendly confines of the Saint Mary's Gym Saturday afternoon for a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference showdown against Hamline.
 
Friendly for the Cardinals — not so much for the Pipers.
 
Saint Mary's took the court with a bit of a chip on their shoulder, having had their five-game winning streak snapped with a one-point, 61-60 loss to Gustavus on Wednesday.
 
And the Cardinals were determined to get back on the winning track against Hamline.
 
Which they did.
 
But it was anything but easy.
 
Saint Mary's survived a second half that included just one Cardinal field goal in the first 13 minutes — getting some clutch free throw shooting from Kareem Anthony-Bello (Chicago, Ill.) and Raheem Anthony (Chicago, Ill.) down the stretch to preserve a 57-54 victory.
 
The Cardinals struggled to find their footing early, falling behind by as many as nine, 16-7, before finally finding their groove — taking their first lead, 19-18, on a thunderous dunk off a Hamline turnover by Kareem Anthony-Bello (Chicago, Ill.).
 
The game would be tied twice over the next five minutes, including 25-25 with just over four minutes until halftime. And what a four minutes it proved to be for Saint Mary's, which outscored Hamline 10-2 to take a commanding, 35-27 leading into the locker room at the break.
 
The second half opened in much the same way as the first for Saint Mary's, as the Cardinals could not find their rhythm, managing just an Anthony-Bello free throw through the first 13 minutes, as Hamline transformed SMU's eight-point halftime lead into a seven-point, 43-36 Piper advantage.
 
Anthony-Bello delivered Saint Mary's first field goal of the half — a clutch 3-pointer with 6:50 on the clock — and Eli Cave (St. Paul, Minn.) followed that up with a field goal to get Saint Mary's within two, 43-41.
 
The Pipers held a five-point, 51-46 lead with 3:40 remaining in regulation, before Anthony drilled a 3-pointer and followed that up with a traditional three-point play to give Saint Mary's the lead for good, 52-51, with 1:51 on the clock.
 
Anthony made it a three-point, 54-51, SMU cushion with a pair of free throws , and Anthony-Bello added 3 of 4 from the line in the waning seconds as the Cardinals held on for the three-point win.
 
Caden Freetly (Farmington, Minn.) — coming off a single-game, career high-tying 21-point effort against Gustavus on Wednesday — led the Cardinals in scoring for the second game in a row, tossing in 11 points, including a 3-for-6 effort from behind the 3-point line. Anthony and Owen Ziegler (Mount Horeb, Wis.) each chipped in 10 points, and Cave delivered seven points and 10 rebounds.
 
The Cardinals shot 35.0 percent from the field (21-for-60) and were 7 of 14 from the free throw line (50.0 percent). Hamline — which got a game-high 14 points from Luke Siwek — finished 20-for-50 (40 percent) from the field and were 8 of 11 from the line.
 
Saint Mary's (3-1 MIAC, 6-2 overall) are right back in action on Monday, heading to St. Thomas' Schoenecker Arena in St. Paul, Minn.) for a 7 p.m. conference clash with the unbeaten and league-leading Tommies.