WINONA, Minn. — Coming off a 21-day layoff, the Saint Mary's University men's basketball team took the court Wednesday evening eager to kick off the 2024 portion of their schedule in winning fashion.
If only Augsburg would have cooperated.
The Cardinals battled back from a pair of 10-point, second-half deficits, but could not wrestle the lead away from the Auggies, as Saint Mary's dropped a 62-55 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference decision at the Saint Mary's Gym.
Both teams enjoyed playing with the lead in the opening 20 minutes — a half that saw 15 lead changes and a pair of ties. The Cardinals built leads as big as five, 16-11, while the Auggies used a late 10-2 burst to take the biggest lead of the half, 35-27, before settling for a five-point, 35-30 edge at the break.
Augsburg appeared ready to run away and hide early in the second half, pushing its five-point advantage to 10 twice — 40-30 and 42-32 — only to have Saint Mary's come roaring back, capping a 14-4 run with a
Cameron Mallory (Joliet, Ill.) jumper with 9:48 to play to knot the game at 46-46.
The Cardinal rally, however, would fizzle from there, as Augsburg got back-to-back field goals from Austin Jentzen and Isaac Rabaey to regain a four-point, 50-46 lead. Saint Mary's clawed its way to within one, 52-51 on an
Owen Ziegler (Mount Horeb, Wis.) 3-pointer with 6:40 on the clock, but that was as close as it would get.
A pair of baskets by
Breyton Buysman (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) would be the only points SMU could muster in its final 13 possessions, as Augsburg closed the game on a 10-4 run to seal the victory.
Mallory finished with a team-high 20 points, going 9 of 16 from the field, with one 3-pointer, and adding a 1-for-2 effort from the free throw line. Buysman also finished in double figures for SMU, netting 17 points, while
Bruce Lockwood (Shakopee, Minn.) chipped in a team-best eight rebounds.
As a team, Saint Mary's shot 36.1 percent from the field (22-for-61), but were just 4 of 24 (16.7 %) from 3-point range, while hitting on 7 of 9 free throws (77.8 %).
The Cardinals (1-7 MIAC, 2-10 overall) are right back on their home court on Saturday, when SMU welcomes Macalester to the Saint Mary's Gym for a 3 p.m. MIAC matchup.
