COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. — As if playing on the road at Saint John's Sexton Arena wasn't tough enough for the Saint Mary's University men's basketball team, the Cardinals had to do so against a team with a bit of a chip on their shoulder.
Thanks a lot, Augsburg.
Saint John's took the court Wednesday evening on the heels of a one-point, 67-66 loss to Augsburg in a battle of conference leaders last Saturday — and the Johnnies took out their frustrations on the visiting Cardinals.
The Cardinals gave the Johnnies all they could handle for the game's first 38 minutes, trailing SJU by just three, 45-42 with 12 minutes to play in regulation. From there, however, SJU — fueled by a 17-0 run — scored 35 of the game's final 46 points in dealing Saint Mary's an 80-53 setback.
Cameron Mallory (Joliet, Ill.) knocked down a pair of jumpers and
Breyton Buysman (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) rained in a 3-pointer to keep the Cardinals even with SJU, 7-7, less than six minutes into the first half.
Colton Codute and
Jabari Sawyer (Chicago, Ill.) traded 3-pointers to make it 10-10, but from there, the first half belonged to the Johnnies — who would knock down six 3-pointers in the opening 20 minutes and slowly pulled away, taking a 16-point, 37-21 advantage into the locker room at the break.
Saint John's pushed its lead to 18, 41-23, early in the second half, but Saint Mary's came storming back — getting eight points from
Caden Freetly (Farmington, Minn.) and seven from
Raheem Anthony (Chicago, Ill.) as part of a 19-4 run that got Saint Mary's within three, 45-42, with 12:13 to play.
Unfortunately, Saint John's answered the Cardinals' impressive run with one of their own, rattling off 17 unanswered points to make it 62-42 with six minutes to go — and the Cardinals never recovered in falling to the Johnnies for the second time this season.
Anthony finished with a team-best 19 points on 7 of 15 shooting with one 3-pointer and a 4-for-6 effort from the free throw line. As a team, the Cardinals shot 35.1 percent from the field and hit on 6 of 21 3-point attempts, while going 7-for-10 from the free throw line.
Saint John's, meanwhile, got 17 points from Mitchell Plombon and 15 from Jared Rainey. The Johnnies finished 28-for-55 from the field — including a 14-for-30 showing from behind the 3-point line — and were 10 of 11 from the charity stripe.
The Cardinals (3-7 MIAC, 5-9 overall) are back in action on Saturday, when they return home to the Saint Mary's Gym for a 3 p.m. conference matchup against Macalester.
