WINONA, Minn. — If there's one thing Saint Mary's University men's basketball coach Joe Fano is thankful for, it's the fact that a college basketball game is 40 minutes long.
 
And the Cardinals needed every second of it Saturday afternoon.
 
Jabari Sawyer (Chicago, Ill.) knocked down a jumper with 0.3 seconds remaining, breaking a 72-72 tie, and lifting the Cardinals to a 74-72 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over St. Olaf at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
The Oles, who were playing catch-up for the majority of the second half, finally pulled even on a Connor Martin bucket with 7.8 seconds left on the clock — which proved to be just enough time for Sawyer to nail the game-winning floater, and put an end to the Cardinals' three-game losing streak.
 
The Oles were virtually unstoppable to open the first half, knocking down three 3-pointers —including two by Caleb Greer, who also converted a three-point play to give St. Olaf the early advantage, 12-4.
 
Unfazed, Saint Mary's promptly used a 8-0 run of its own — thanks to a pair of field goals by both Breyton Buysman (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) and Cameron Mallory (Joliet, Ill.) — to take its first lead of the game, 16-14, with 9:24 to play.
 
And the momentum swings continued.
 
St. Olaf scored 13 of the next 18 points to regain the upper hand, 27-21, only to have Saint Mary's respond with a half-ending 17-6 run that gave the Cardinals a 38-33 advantage at the break.
 
Neither team was able to grab the lead and put any distance between them, with Saint Mary's leading by as many as seven, 38-31 early in the second half, while the Oles hold their biggest lead of the half at 57-52 with just under 11 minutes to play in regulation.
 
Over those final 11 minutes, neither team would lead by more than four, and the Cardinals were clinging to a four-point, 72-68 edge on a pair of Sawyer free throws with one minute on the clock. Martin hit a jumper to get St. Olaf within two, 72-70, with 33.6 on the clock, and, after Sawyer missed the front end of a one-and-one, Martin knocked down a jumper to knot the game at 72-72 with 7.8 to play.
 
And set up Sawyer's buzzer-beating heroics.
 
Mallory finished with a team-high 20 points for the Cardinals, who ended the game with four players scoring in double figures. Buysman chipped in 16 points, while Owen Ziegler (Mount Horeb, Wis.) added 15 and Sawyer finished with 13.
 
As a team, Saint Mary's shot 49.1 percent from the field (27-for-55), with seven 3-pointers, while adding a 13 of 17 effort from the free throw line
 
The Cardinals (3-9 MIAC, 4-13 overall) are back in action on Wednesday, traveling to Hamline's Hutton Arena in St. Paul, Minn., for a 7 p.m. conference showdown against the Pipers.
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