WINONA, Minn. — When it comes to the Saint Mary's University-Hamline men's basketball rivalry, one thing became abundantly clear last season — the end result was going to go right down to the wire.
 
After all, the Cardinals and Pipers squared off three times a year ago, with all three games being decided by nine points or less — including back-to-back overtime games in their two most recent meetings.
 
So it should have come as no surprise that Tuesday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference showdown followed that same script.
 
Unfortunately, that script did not have a happy ending for the Cardinals.
 
Hamline — which dealt SMU a pair of overtime setbacks a year ago — took the lead for good midway through the second half and never relinquished it in dealing Saint Mary's an 81-75 setback at the SMU Gym.
 
The opening 20 minutes unfolded exactly the way you'd expect, with neither team able to hold a lead greater than six points. Hamline led by three points once, 11-8, and Saint Mary's scratched its way to its biggest lead of the half, a six-point, 36-30 advantage thanks to a Bruce Lockwood (Shakopee, Minn.) three-point play with 1:03 remaining.
 
Hamline would score the final four points of the half, whittling the Cardinal advantage to two, 36-34 at the break. Saint Mary's shot 50 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes, going 15-for-30 with three 3-pointers, while the Pipers shot a sizzling 55.6 percent from the field (15 of 27) but were a dismal 1 of 8 from 3-point land and 3 of 7 from the charity stripe.
 
The Cardinals grabbed their first lead of the second half, 40-38, on a Breyton Buysman (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) jumper, only to have the Pipers respond with eight of the next 10 points to grab a six-point, 48-42 advantage.
 
Hamline would push its lead to as many as eight — thanks in large part to a near-perfect 16-for-17 second-half showing from the free throw line — and Saint Mary's could get no closer than five the rest of the way.
 
Buysman poured in a game- and season-high 24 points for the Cardinals, going 10 of 17 from the field with one 3-pointer and a 3-for-4 effort from the free throw line. It was Buysman's second straight 20+ point showing against the Pipers, having posted a career-best 26-point showing in SMU's double-overtime MIAC Playoff loss to HU on Feb. 21, 2023.
 
Jabari Sawyer (Chicago, Ill.) finished with 19 points and Lockwood added a career-high 11 for SMU, which ended 28-for-60 (46.7 %) with five 3-pointers and a 14 of 19 performance from the free throw line.
 
The Cardinals (0-1 MIAC, 1-4 overall) are now off until Nov. 29, when they travel to Saint John's Sexton Arena in Collegeville, Minn., for a 7 p.m. mid-week showdown against the Johnnies.
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