NORTHFIELD, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's basketball team netted a season-high 84 points, boasted a pair of players who scored 20 or more points, and shot a sizzling 49.3 percent from the field.
And it still wasn't enough to earn the Cardinals a victory Saturday afternoon.
St. Olaf outscored the Cardinals 16-6 in the overtime period — after SMU had rallied from a nine-point second-half deficit with less than 10 minutes remaining — as the Oles dealt Saint Mary's a 94-84 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback at Skoglund Center Gym.
The first half had all the makings of a heavyweight title bout, with both the Cardinals and Oles squaring off in the middle of the ring exchanging haymakers.
But every time the Cardinals would land a punch, the Oles would answer. SMU led by as many as four in the opening 20 minutes, while St. Olaf held leads as big as six and clung to a four-point, 43-39 advantage at the break.
Saint Mary's shot a blistering 57.1 percent from the field (16-for-28) and rained in four 3s, yet still found themselves down by four, as the Oles hit on 16 of 38 first-half field goal attempts (42.0 %) with five treys, and were a perfect 6-for-6 from the line.
And the two teams picked up right where they left off in the second half, with St. Olaf appearing to have the Cardinals on the ropes, sporting a nine-point, 66-57 lead with 9:52 on the clock.
The Cardinals, however were not about the throw in the towel, methodically chipping away at the Ole lead, and, after the Oles — nursing a six-point, 78-72 lead with less than a minute on the clock — missed the front end of a one-and-one, the Cardinals pounced.
Breyton Buysman (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) drained a 3-pointer, SMU's defense forced a turnover, and
Bruce Lockwood (Shakopee, Minn.) converted a traditional three-point play with 30 seconds left to knot the game at 78-78 — and send it into overtime.
The two teams traded field goals to open the extra session, but the Oles' Brendan Kauls followed with a deep three that gave the Oles the lead for good. With SMU forced to foul in an effort to keep the game close, St. Olaf made the most of its free throw opportunities, going 9-for-10 from the line in OT to seal the win.
Cameron Mallory (Joliet, Ill.) scored a team-high 21 points, while Buysman chipped in 20 – marking the first time this season the Cardinals boasted two players with two or more points in the same game.
Owen Ziegler (Mount Horeb, Wis.) also finished in double figures with 17 points for SMU, which finished the game 33-for-67 from the field (49.3 %), with eight 3-pointers, and added a 10-for-17 showing from the free throw line.
The Cardinals (0-3 MIAC, 1-6 overall) are right back in action on Monday, when they return home to the Saint Mary's Gym for a 5:30 p.m. conference matchup against Concordia.
