COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. — There was one thing certain when the Saint Mary's University and Saint John's men's basketball teams took the court — the winner would be MIAC Playoff-bound.
 
Both the Johnnies and Cardinals needed one win in their last three games heading into their showdown Saturday at Sexton Arena.
 
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, you can make that one win in their last two games, as Saint Mary's struggled to find its shooting touch in dropping a 90-58 decision to the Johnnies — who punched their ticket to the six-team MIAC dance with the victory.
 
The Cardinals got off to a quick start, scoring five of the game's first seven points on a Breyton Buysman (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) 3-pointer and a turn-around jumper by Jabari Sawyer (Chicago, Ill.). The lead, however, did not last long, as Saint John's grabbed the momentum – and the lead — slowing building its advantage to 11, 30-19, with 5:44 to go until halftime.
 
Saint Mary's whittled the lead to five on a three-point play by Raheem Anthony (Chicago, Ill.), but the Johnnies responded, closing the half on an 8-5 run to build an eight-point, 38-30, advantage at the break.
 
Down by eight at the half was familiar territory for the Cardinals against SJU, having trailed by nine, 30-21, at halftime in the teams' first meeting — and rallied for a 12-point, 69-57 victory to snap a 29-game losing streak against the Johnnies.
 
This time around, however, there would be second-half comeback — SJU made sure of that.
 
The Johnnies shot a blistering 67.7 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes, knocking down 21 of 31 field goals — including six 3-pointers — in putting an end to Saint Mary's three-game winning streak.
 
Saint Mary's clawed to within seven, 48-41 on an Anthony 3-pointer with 14:27 to play, but SJU — which went on a half-ending 21-0 run to grab its nine-point lead in the teams' first meeting – used a 21-3 burst this time around to put the game out of reach, 69-44, with 8:24 to play.
 
Saint John's then closed out the remaining eight minutes by outscoring SMU 21-14 en route to the split in the teams' season series.
 
Anthony was the lone Cardinal to finish in double figures, scoring 17 points — including 11 in the first half. As a team, Saint Mary's finished 19 of 54 (35.2 %) from the field, with eight 3-pointers, while going 12-for-14 from the free throw line. SJU, meanwhile, got a game-high 20 points from Ryan Thissen — who was a perfect 10-for-10 from the field — and ended the game 39-for-58 (67.2 %), with seven 3-pointers and a 5-for-8 effort from the charity stripe
 
The Cardinals (10-8 MIAC, 14-9 overall) are back in action on Wednesday, heading to Bethel's Robertson Center Gym in Arden Hills, Minn., for a 7 p.m. conference showdown against the Royals.
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