WINONA, Minn. — They had split their first two meetings — each winning on the other's court — with both games decided by less than 10 points.
Which left little doubt that the rubber match — in the opening round of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Playoffs — would be another white-knuckle ride from start to finish.
And it was – and then some.
In fact, the contest proved to be so close it needed not one, but two overtime periods to decide a winner.
Unfortunately, that winner would not be the Cardinals, as Hamline outscored SMU 10-4 in the second five-minute overtime — including the last seven — in dealing Saint Mary's a 90-84 setback in Tuesday's quarterfinal at the Saint Mary's Gym.
With the score deadlocked at 74-74 through regulation, both teams struggled to find their rhythm in the first extra session. SMU went 0-for-5 from the field, but was 6 of 8 from the free throw line, while Hamline — which missed its first six OT field goal attempts, before hitting its final three, including a game-tying layup by Bradley Cimperman with four seconds left to send the game into a second OT deadlocked at 80-80.
After both teams made 1 of 2 free throws to open the second extra session,
Breyton Buysman (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) drilled his sixth 3-pointer of the event to put SMU up 84-81.
That, however would be the only field goal the Cardinals would hit, while Hamline hit a pair of field goals and went 5-for-6 from the line to seal the six-point victory — and earn a spot opposite second-seeded Saint John's in Friday's MIAC Playoff semifinal in Collegeville, Minn.
Hamline played with the lead for the majority of the first half, but each time it appeared the Pipers had the Cardinals on the ropes, SMU would bounce back swinging haymakers.
Cimperman set the tone early, knocking down a 3-pointer for the game's first points, but the Cardinals responded with six straight points of their own on field goals by Buysman,
Raheem Anthony (Chicago, Ill.), and
Bruce Lockwood (Shakopee, Minn.) for a 6-3 advantage.
Hamline rattled off seven unanswered points to regain the lead, 10-6 and pushed that lead to seven twice — 17-10 and 19-12 — only to have the Cardinals push back, getting back-to-back baskets by Lockwood to cap an 11-0 burst that gave SMU a 25-19 lead with 7:59 to play in the half.
An
Owen Ziegler (Mount Horeb, Wis.) 3-pointer gave Saint Mary's its biggest lead of the opening 20 minutes, 25-19, but this time it would be the Pipers who were pushing back, scoring 21 of the next 26 points to grab their biggest lead of the half, 39-31. Still trailing by eight, 42-34, Saint Mary's netted the final five points of the half — including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Buysman to get the Cardinals within three, 42-39, at the break.
As was the case in the first half, the Pipers spent the majority of the second half playing with the lead, including owning a seven-point, 67-60 cushion with 8:09 on the clock. Three Buysman 3-pointers got the Cardinals within two, 71-69, and a Sawyer three-point play gave SMU its third, one-point lead of the half, 72-71. Saint Mary's held its fourth and final one-point advantage, 74-73 on an Anthony free throw, but Brandon Ebel made one of two at the other end — and both teams would miss field goal attempts in the waning seconds to send the game into overtime.
Buysman finished with a career-high 26 points, one more than his previous career-best 25-point effort against these same Pipers on Jan. 24. The sophomore finished 7 of 22 from the field — including 6-for-12 from beyond the arc — and added a 6-for-7 effort from the free throw line.
Anthony, who fouled out with 2.7 seconds remaining in regulation, chipped in 18 points and added 12 rebounds for his 12th double-double of the season, while
Cameron Mallory (Joliet, Ill.) and Ziegler chipped in 12 and 11 points, respectively.
With the loss, the Cardinals close out the season 16-10 overall — the most wins since Saint Mary's matched that 16-10 mark during the 1977-78 season.
