WINONA, Minn. — After a one-game hiatus thanks to a 34-point win over Finlandia on Monday, the Saint Mary's men's basketball team was back to its nail-biting ways Wednesday evening against Hamline.
 
For the seventh time in 11 games — including five of six conference contests — the Cardinals found themselves embroiled in a game that would be decided by 10 points or less.
 
Fortunately for coach Joe Fano, it would be his Cardinals who escaped with the victory — even if it did cost the fifth-year head coach a few gray hairs — as Saint Mary's rallied from an eight-point, second-half deficit, and knocked down all six free throws in the waning seconds to secure an 81-72 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over Hamline at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
With the win, the Cardinals pushed their winning streak to four in a row — their longest winning streak since posting five consecutive wins during the pandemic-shortened 2021 season.
 
Fresh off a 102-68 win over Finlandia on Monday — a win that included a record-tying 13 3-pointers — the Cardinals picked up right where they left off, knocking down 3-pointers by both Jabari Sawyer (Chicago, Ill.) and Breyton Buysman (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) in the game's first two minutes, and, thanks to an early 4 of 5 shooting from behind the arc, held a 16-10 lead with 14:07 to play.
 
The Cardinals would push that advantage to 12, 30-18, on back-to-back field goals by Raheem Anthony (Chicago, Ill.) — and it appeared as if Saint Mary's might be on its way to running away with another lopsided victory.
 
Hamline, however, had other ideas, as Daniel McCarrell capped a 23-8 Piper run that gave HU its first lead of the game, 41-38. Anthony would beat the buzzer with a layup, pulling Saint Mary's within one, 41-40 at the break.
 
Hamline opened the second half by knocking down back-to-back field goals to push its lead to five, 45-40, and continued to pad its advantage to as many as eight, 57-49, on a Bradley Cimperman pull-up jumper with 13:07 remaining in regulation.
 
Unfazed by the deficit, the Cardinals went to work, rattling off 10 unanswered points to regain the lead, 59-57 on a thunderous Cameron Mallory (Joliet, Ill.) dunk with 8:50 on the clock. HU would knot the game at 59-59 with a pair of free throws, but Buysman answered with a 3-pointer — and the Cardinals would not trail again.
 
Hamline had one last gasp in the final minute, trailing by three, 75-72, but Anthony would deliver a perfect 4-for-4 effort from the line and Owen Ziegler (Mount Horeb, Wis.) went 2-for-2 to ice the nine-point victory.
 
Buysman finished 9 of 18 from the field with four 3-pointers and a 3-for-3 showing from the free throw line en route to a career-best 25 points, while Anthony chipped in 23 points on 8 of 18 shooting and a 6 of 6 performance from the charity stripe. Sawyer and Bruce Lockwood (Shakopee, Minn.) each chipped in 10 points for SMU, which shot 49.2 percent from the field (30-for-61 with nine 3-pointers and finished 12-for-13 from the line.
 
The Cardinals (2-4 MIAC, 6-5 overall) are back in action on Saturday, when they return to the Saint Mary's Gym for a fourth straight game, hosting Saint John's in a 1 p.m. conference showdown.
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