ST. PAUL, Minn. — The last time the Saint Mary's University men's basketball team squared off against Macalester, the game went right down to the wire, and ended with a one-point decision.
 
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the second meeting between the two teams was a mirror image of the first — including the end result.
 
Macalester — which defeated Saint Mary's 77-76 in the teams' first meeting on Nov. 22 — broke a 72-72 tie with a layup and a free throw by Caleb Williams, as the Scots dealt Saint Mary's yet another heart-breaking setback, a 75-72 conference decision Wednesday evening — snapping the Cardinals' program-record eight-game winning streak in the process.
 
The Cardinals entered their showdown with the Scots leading the nation in 3-point field goal percentage at 43.3 percent, but SMU struggled to find its long-range touch early on, as Macalester raced out to a 12-point, 24-12 lead.
 
And the 12-point deficit served as a wake-up call for the SMU offense.
 
After going 0-for-5 from beyond the arc, through the first 10 minutes, the Cardinals knocked down four of their next six — two from Cameron Mallory (Joliet, Ill.) and Breyton Buysman (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) — to whittle the lead to two, 28-26, with just over two minutes to play.
 
The Scots, however, closed the half scoring seven of the final nine points to take a 35-28 lead into the locker room at the intermission.
 
Buoyed by their success from beyond the arc at the end of the half, the Cardinals came out firing on all cylinders to open the second stanza, scoring 15 of the first 16 points to turn that seven-point deficit into a seven-point, 43-36 advantage just five minutes in.
 
Macalester, however, had plenty of gas left in the tank, riding a 14-4 run of its own to regain a six-point, 53-47 advantage. The Scots would push their lead to 10, 61-51, only to have Saint Mary's respond by netting 13 of the next 15 points to regain the upper hand, 64-63 with 5:46 on the clock.
 
The game would be tied three times over the final five minutes, including 72-72 on a pair of Williams free throws with 46 seconds remaining in regulation. Saint Mary's came up empty on a 3-pointer on its next possession, while Williams answered on Macalester's ensuing possession by driving the lane for a bucket and was fouled. The Scot junior knocked down the free throw to complete the three-point play with three second on the clock, and SMU's last-gasp 3-pointer missed the mark, sealing the three-point Macalester victory.
 
Raheem Anthony (Chicago, Ill.) scored 25 points on 7 of 15 shooting and a 7-for-8 effort from the free throw line, while Buysman chipped in 18 points for the Cardinals, who finished 27-for-61 (44.3%), with seven 3-pointers, and an 11-for-15 showing from the line.
 
After three straight road games, the Cardinals (6-5 MIAC, 10-6 overall) finally return home on Saturday, welcoming Concordia to the Saint Mary's Gym for a 1 p.m. MIAC showdown.
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