WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's basketball team could not have asked for a better start Saturday afternoon.
 
And the ending was even better.
 
Breyton Buysman (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) knocked down a 3-pointer with 23 seconds remaining to give the Cardinals the lead, and Owen Ziegler (Mount Horeb. Wis.) drained a pair of last-second free throws to seal a 76-73 nonconference victory over UW-River Falls at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
The Cardinals raced out to an 8-0 lead to open the game, sandwiching a pair of 3-pointers by Ziegler and Buysman around a field goal by Cameron Mallory (Joliet, Ill.) on their first three possessions.
 
Saint Mary's would expand that lead to as many as 12, 36-24, on a bucket by Yann Koutou (Skokie, Ill.), but UW-River Falls would not go away, outscoring the Cardinals 12-5 over the final six minutes of the first half to whittle the SMU lead to five, 41-36 at the break.
 
UW-River Falls grabbed the momentum coming out of the break, cutting the Cardinal advantage to two twice in the first eight minutes of the second half — 49-47 and 54-52 — before closing to within a single point, 59-58, with 11:28 to play.
 
The Falcons took their first lead of the game, 69-66, on a Zac Johnson 3-pointer with 4:06 on the clock, and Johnson added another field goal to give UW-RF a 71-66 cushion. Saint Mary's clawed its way back, cutting the deficit to two twice — the first at 71-69 on a Mallory 3-pointer and the second at 73-71 on a Mallory jumper with 1:26 remaining in regulation.
 
The Falcons had two attempts at extending their lead, but could not capitalize — and Buysman was money at the other end, hitting nothing but net with a trey that gave SMU the lead, 74-73.
 
UW-River Falls had a golden opportunity to wrestle the lead back in the waning seconds, but Johnson missed a pair of free throw attempts with 5.4 on the clock, and Ziegler knocked down both of his at the other end seconds late to seal the Cardinals' first win of the season.
 
Mallory led the way for the Cardinal offense, scoring a career-high 23 points, while Buysman chipped in 18 and Ziegler added 14. As a team, Saint Mary's shot 50.9 percent from the field (28-for-55) with a season-high 12 3-pointers, and finished 8 of 9 from the free throw line.
 
The Cardinals (1-3 overall) are back in action on Tuesday, when they return to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play with a 7 p.m. home contest against Hamline at the Saint Mary's Gym.
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