WINONA, Minn. — The fact that 11 of the Saint Mary's University men's basketball team's games this season had been decided by 11 points or less — including the Cardinals' six-point, 73-67 loss to Concordia in the teams' first meeting on Jan. 15 — it should come as no surprise that Saturday's rematch went down to the wire.
Right down to the wire.
Concordia's Jackson Jangula drained a 3-pointer with less than three seconds remaining in regulation, lifting the Cobbers to a come-from-behind, 65-64 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over the Cardinals at the Saint Mary's Gym.
Overshadowed in the loss was the performance of SMU's
Zach Kjeseth (Wabasha, Minn.) — one of three graduating seniors playing their final regular-season home game — who scored a career-high 20 points, while fellow senior
Caden Freetly (Farmington, Minn.) chipped in his second double-double of the year with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
It was only fitting that seniors set the tone for the Cardinals on Senior Day, as Kjeseth kicked off his career night by scoring seven of SMU's first nine points, with Freetly accounting for the other two, as Saint Mary's grabbed the upper hand early, 9-6.
Both teams would have their opportunity to play with the lead in the game's opening 20 minutes, with Saint Mary's owning leads as bit as three, while the Cobbers held the biggest lead of the half, 21-15, only to have Saint Mary's use a 9-3 run to knot the game at 24-24 with 3:20 to play.
CC answered with five straight points to regain control, and took a two-point, 31-29 advatnage into the locker room at the break.
The second half played out exactly the way the first did, with neither team able to gain any traction and pull away. Saint Mary's led by as many as five points twice — 46-41 and 49-44 — while the Cobbers held a five-point and four-point cushions — the latter with 2:48 on the clock.
Freetly and
Owen Ziegler (Mount Horeb, Wis.) sandwiched 3-pointers around a trey from CC's Talon Hoffer to knot the game at 62-62 with 1:02 on the clock.
Raheem Anthony (Chicago, Ill.) put the Cardinals in front 64-62 on a silky smooth driving layup with 26 seconds remaining.
On the Cobbers final possession, Dylan Inniger missed a potential game-tying jumper, but CC got the offensive board and Jangula swished the game-winning three to seal the Concordia win.
Kjeseth finished 8 of 13 from the field — including 4-for-8 from beyond the arc — en route to his career-best 20-point showing, while Anthony delivered 12 points and Freetly tallied a double-double of 10 ponits and 10 rebounds.
The Cardinals shot 40.3 percent from the field (25-for-62) with 11 3-pointers and finished 3 of 5 from the free throw line.
The Cardinals (6-12 MIAC, 8-14 overall) close out the regular-season portion of their schedule on Monday, heading to Northfield, Minn., for a 7:45 p.m. conference matchuip against Carleton.
