DULUTH, Minn. – When the Saint Mary's University and St. Scholastica men's basketball teams squared off last season, their two meetings were decided by a combined four points — with the Cardinals coming out on top both times.
 
Fast forward to Wednesday evening, which had all the makings of yet another nail-biting, fight-to-the-finish battle.
 
For all of 10 minutes.
 
Saint Mary's closed the first half on a 15-8 run and the SMU offense never shifted out of high gear over the game's final 20 minutes, as the Cardinals made erupted for a season-high 92 points in downing St. Scholastica 92-80 Wednesday evening.
 
The Cardinals put four players in double figures — including a pair of 20+ point performers — in picking up their first conference win, and snapping a season-high four-game losing streak.
 
Cameron Mallory (Joliet, Ill.) poured in a game- and career-high 25 points and Breyton Buysman (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) chipped in 24, while Owen Ziegler (Mount Horeb, Wis.) added 15 and Jabari Sawyer (Chicago, Ill.) finished with 11 to pace the high-octane Cardinal offene.
 
The Cardinals got off to a blistering start to open the game, cooled off a bit over the middle portion of the first half, and closed with a flourish to take a nine-point, 46-37 advantage at the break.
 
SMU and CSS traded baskets to kick things off, before a pair of free throws by Sawyer jump-started an 11-0 run that saw Saint Mary's take its biggest lead of the half, 13-2, with 15:47 still on the clock.
 
St. Scholastica chipped away at the large Cardinal advantage, and battling all the way to even, 29-29, on a Brock Nelson 3-pointer to knot the game at 29-29 with 6:44 to go until halftime. From there, however, the Cardinals regain control, outscoring the Saints 15-8 to secure their nine-point edge at the intermission.
 
The Cardinals scored the first five points of the second half, and, after a brief CSS rally cut the SMU lead to 10, 63-53, Saint Mary's went back to work, pushing the advantage to as many as 21 and cruising to conference win No. 1.
 
The Cardinals enjoyed a banner day from the field, shooting a sizzling 57.8 percent (37-for-64), with 10 3-pointers, and were 8 of 11 from the free throw line. The Saints, meanwhile, hit on 32 of 62 field goal attempts (51.6 %), nailed nine 3-pointers, and went 7-for-10 from the charity stripe.
 
The Cardinals (1-4 MIAC, 2-7 overall) are back in action, and back on the road, on Saturday, heading to Bethel's Robertson Center Gym in Arden Hills, Minn., for a 3 p.m. conference matchup against the Royals.
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