WINONA, Minn. — It was a rollercoaster ride of emotion for the Saint Mary's University men's basketball team in its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference showdown with Carleton Saturday afternoon at the SMU Gym.
 
The game could not have started any better — or ended any worse — for the Cardinals, who scored the game's first 12 points, but in the end had the thrill of victory snatched from their grasp, as the Knights dealt SMU the agony of defeat with a Carleton buzzer-beating tip-in that led to a 75-73 victory over SMU.
 
A Bruce Lockwood (Shakopee, Minn.) put-back with 12.0 seconds remaining in regulation pulled the Cardinals even at 73-73, and it appeared as if the teams were headed to overtime when Matt Banovetz's jumper missed its mark — only to have Chuck Sweat tip-in the wayward shot as the buzzer sounded to give the Knights to two-point win.
 
The Cardinals took control from the opening tip, rattling off 12 unanswered points for a very early, 12-0 advantage. And while SMU was lighting things up at one end of the court, the Knights struggled to find any offensive rhythm, going 0-for-8 with a turnover in its first nine possessions.
 
The Knights got their offense on track, and used a 22-11 run to whittled that 12-0 SMU lead down to one, 23-22 with 4:45 to play in the opening half. Unfazed by the Carleton run, the Cardinals promptly outscored the Knights 15-5 the rest of the way — highlighted by a pair of 3-pointers from Owen Ziegler (Mount Horeb, Wis.) — to take a 10-point, 38-28 advantage into the locker room at the break.
 
Saint Mary's continued to play from out front to open the second half, only to have Carleton pull even at 45-45 on a Sweat 3-pointer. A second Sweat trey on Carleton's next possession capped an 8-0 run that gave Carleton its first lead of the game, 48-45, with 13 minutes to play in the second half.
 
Carleton extended its lead to a game-high five points, 63-58 on a Banovetz 3-pointer with 3:43 on the clock, only to have the Cardinals respond by scoring 12 of the next 16 points — including eight straight SMU points by Ziegler — to grab a three-point, 70-67 advantage.
 
A three-point play by Luke Harris gave the lead back to Carleton, 73-71, only to have Lockwood corral a Ziegler miss and convert the layup, tying the game at 73-73 — and setting up Sweat's buzzer-beating heartbreaker.
 
Cameron Mallory (Joliet, Ill.) led four Cardinals in double figures with 20 points, while Ziegler chipped in 17 — including five of SMU's seven 3-pointers. Lockwood chipped in 12 points and Breyton Buysman (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) added 10 for SMU, which shot 43.6 percent from the field (24-for-55), with seven 3-pointers, and knocked down 18 of 24 free throws.
 
The Cardinals (2-7 MIAC, 3-11 overall) return to their home court on Wednesday, when they welcome Saint John's to the SMU Gym for a 7 p.m. conference matchup.
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