PLATTEVILLE, Wis. — It wasn't quite the season-opening result Saint Mary's University men's basketball coach Joe Fano was hoping for.
 
The Cardinals — coming off a 16-10 season a year ago, including a third MIAC Playoff appearance in Fano's five-year tenure — could not keep pace with hot-shooting UW-Platteville in the teams' season-opener on Friday, as the Pioneers used a 17-2 first-half run to take charge late in the first half in handing SMU a 91-71 nonconference setback.
 
Saint Mary's knocked down the first field goal of the season on an Owen Ziegler (Mount Horeb, Wis.) jumper, but it would be the Pioneers who held the upper hand early, building a six-point, 17-11 lead.
 
The Cardinals battled their way back, using a 9-0 run to snare a 20-17 edge with less than nine minutes to play in the opening half.
 
Over those final nine minutes, however, the Pioneers would regain control, using a 17-2 run — capped by a 3-pointer and a pull-up jumper by Max Love to extend its lead to 14, 41-27. SMU responded with five unanswered points to end the half, and headed into the locker room staring at a nine-point, 41-32 deficit.
 
UW-Platteville drained the first field goal of the second half, and the Cardinals could get no closer than nine over the game's final 20 minutes.
 
Cameron Mallory (Joliet, Ill.) went 10-for-13 from the field in scoring a career-high 20 points to pace three Cardinals in double figures. Breyton Buysman (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) and Khai Branham (Bemidji, Minn.) added 17 and 10 points, respectively, for the Cardinals, who shot 52.6 percent from the field (30-for-57), with seven 3-pointers, while going 4 of 6 from the free throw line.
 
The Pioneers, who also had three players score 10 or more points — led by Logan Pearson with 19 — bettered SMU's field goal percentage, finishing 38 of 66 (57.6 %) with 12 treys, and a 3-for-3 effort from the charity stripe.
 
The Cardinals (0-1 overall) are right back in action — and right back on the road — on Saturday, as they head to Whitewater, Wis., for a 7 p.m. matchup against UW-Whitewater.
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