WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's basketball may have secured its spot in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Playoffs with Wednesday's 83-67 victory over Bethel on Wednesday — but there was still plenty to play for when the Cardinals took the court for their regular-season finale against Gustavus.
After all, Saint Mary's still had an outside shot at the No. 2 seed — and a first-round bye — but only if the Cardinals could dispatch of the Gusties and get some help from Augsburg and Bethel.
The Cardinals did their part — cruising to a 77-69 victory over Gustavus — and when the dust finally settled, SMU wasn't able to climb into the No. 2 slow, but they did bump up one spot and officially head into post-season play as the MIAC Playoff's No. 3 seed.
Raheem Anthony (Chicago, Ill.) made the most of his Senior Day, scoring 33 points and adding 13 rebounds and eight assists, while
Khai Branham (Bemidji, Minn.) enjoyed his best day as a Cardinal with 19 points in leading Saint Mary's to its 16th win of the season — the most since SMU finished 16-11 during the 1977-78 season.
The Cardinals will open MIAC Playoff action on Tuesday, hosting sixth-seeded Hamline in a 7 p.m. matchup at the Saint Mary's Gym. SMU and HU split their two regular-season meetings, with Saint Mary's winning 81-72 on Jan. 4, while Hamline collected an 87-84 OT victory on Jan. 30.
Gustavus enjoyed playing with the lead for the game's opening 10 minutes, building leads as big as six, 10-4, and holding a 19-15 edge with 9:50 to play until halftime.
Saint Mary's promptly responded by scoring 12 unanswered points — including 3-pointers from
Owen Ziegler (Mount Horeb, Wis.) and Kai Branham (Bemidji, Minn.) and field goals by
Raheem Anthony (Chicago, Ill.),
Cameron Mallory (Joliet, Ill.), and
Jabari Sawyer (Chicago, Ill.) — to grab an eight-point cushion. GAC would whittle the lead to four on three separate occasions, but two more 3-pointers from Branham in the final 13 seconds — including one at the halftime buzzer — to give Saint Mary's a 43-32 edge at the break.
By the time Gustavus' Jack Zammit hit a pair of free throws with 16:55 left in the second half, the Cardinals had already drained three field goals and 3 of 4 free throws to push its 11-point halftime advantage to 20, 52-32.
But Gustavus would answer, scoring the game's next 10 points — and 15 of 17 — to make it a seven-point game, 54-47. Anthony delivered back-to-back field goals to push SMU's lead back to 11, 58-47, with 12:13 to play, and — with Anthony and Branham driving the bus — the Cardinals extended their lead to 16, 71-55 with less than six minutes to play.
Gustavus cut into the Saint Mary's lead over the game's final six minutes, but would get no closer than the game's final eight-point outcome.
Fueled by the efforts of Anthony and Branham, Saint Mary's shot 46.7 percent from field (28-for-66), with seven 3-pointers — five from Branham — and finished 14 of 16 from the free throw line.
