COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's basketball team learned a valuable lesson against Saint John's Wednesday evening — the Johnnies are very good on their home court.
 
Very, very good.
 
The Johnnies headed into their first showdown with the Cardinals, their first home contest of the year, boasting a 40-10 record in their last 50 home openers — with four of those 10 losses coming to NCAA Division II foes.
 
And when the final horn sounded at Sexton Arena, SJU had made the Cardinals home-opening victim No. 41, as the Johnnies erupted for 47 second-half points in dealing Saint Mary's a 90-64 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback.
 
The Cardinals gave the Johnnies all they could handle — and then some — in the game's opening 20 minutes, holding leads as big as three, 13-10, early on and owning a 22-21 advantage on a Breyton Buysman (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) bucket with 9:38 to play.
 
Over those final nine and a half minutes, however, the Johnnies flexed their offensive muscles, outscoring Saint Mary's 22-9 — including netting the final eight points of the half — to claim a 43-31 advantage at the break.
 
Bruce Lockwood (Shakopee, Minn.) knocked down the first field goal of the second half to get Saint Mary's within 10, 43-33, only to have Saint John's score 14 of the next 16 points to extend the lead to 22, 57-35.
 
And SMU never recovered, as the Johnnies held the Cardinals to 33 second-half points, while pouring in 47 of their own, in sealing the conference victory.
 
Saint Mary's put five players in double figures, led by Cameron Mallory (Joliet, Ill.) with 13. Lockwood and Jabari Sawyer (Chicago, Ill.) each chipped in 11 points, and Buysman and Jemari Moore (Broadview, Ill.) both finished with 10.
 
As a team, Saint Mary's shot 41.3 percent from the field (26-for-63), but were just 3 of 16 from behind the 3-point line, and went 9-for-14 from the free throw line. Saint John's, meanwhile, hit on 37 of 58 field goals for a blistering 63.8 % field goal percentage, including a 12-for-24 showing from 3-point land and a 4 of 5 effort from the line.
 
The Cardinals (0-2 MIAC, 1-5 overall) are back in action — and back on the road — on Saturday, when they make the trek to Northfield, Minn., for a 3 p.m. conference matchup against St. Olaf.
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