Saint Mary's University of Minnesota Athletics

WHITEWATER, Wis. — The Saint Mary's University men's basketball team kicked off its season Friday evening dropping a 91-71 decision to UW-Platteville — a team that received votes in the D3hoops.com Preseason Poll.
 
The road didn't get any easier for the Cardinals the following evening.
 
After all, UW-Whitewater didn't just receive votes in that preseason poll — they received one first-place vote and entered Saturday's nonconference matchup ranked No. 2 in the country.
 
And the Warhawks lived up to that lofty ranking against Saint Mary's — despite a gallant effort by the Cardinals.
 
Fresh off an NCAA Division III Final Four appearance a year ago — not to mention an 88-59 win over Gustavus in their season opener on Friday — UW-Whitewater held Saint Mary's to just 53 points and built leads as big as 22 in the second half in dealing the Cardinals a 71-53 nonconference setback.
 
Saint Mary's knocked down two of the game's first three field goals — the first by Jabari Sawyer (Chicago, Ill.) and the second by Cameron Mallory (Joliet, Ill.) — to take its only lead of the first half, 4-2. UW-Whitewater slowly gained control and boasted a 15-10 lead with 12:52 to play in the opening half.
 
Over the next five minutes, however, that five-point deficit ballooned to 15, as UW-Whitewater rattled off 10 unanswered points to extend its lead to 25-10. Unfazed, SMU clawed its way back, cutting the deficit to nine on three separate occasions, including 33-24 at the break.
 
The Cardinals continued to give the Warhawks a run for their money in the second half, but could never get over the hump. UW-Whitewater netted the first three points of the second half, and maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way. SMU got within 10, 47-37 on a Khai Branham (Bemidji, Minn.) 3-pointer with 11:45 on the clock, but the Warhawks outscored SMU 24-16 the rest of the way in sealing the 18-point win.
 
Sawyer scored a team-high 13 points, going 5 of 14 from the field and 3-for-4 from the free throw line, while Mallory — coming off a career-high 20-point night against UW-Platteville on Friday — chipped in 11 points. As a team, SMU shot 39 percent from the field (22-for-56), but were just 2 of 17 (11.8 percent) from behind the 3-point line.
 
The Cardinals (0-2 overall) are back in action on Wednesday, when they return home to the Saint Mary's Gym for a 7 p.m. nonconference home-opener against Crown.
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