WINONA, Minn. — It was a 2-for-1 kind of day for the Saint Mary's University men's basketball team Saturday afternoon at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
Not only did the Cardinals post an impressive, dominating performance in snapping their three-game losing streak, but they were also witness to program, record-setting history, as Owen Ziegler (Mount Horeb, Wis.) became the team's all-time leader in 3-pointers in guiding Saint Mary's to a lopsided, 83-56 rout of Macalester at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
Ziegler, who has been the Cardinals' leading long-range sharpshooter his entire four-year career, drilled the first of his four 3-pointers midway through the first half Saturday, moving him in front of J.B. Mathison '00 as the program's all-time 3-point king. The senior, who closed out the game 4-for-6 from behind the arc, sits atop the record book with 160 treys.
 
Saint Mary's set the tone early against the Scots, getting five unanswered points from Cameron Mallory (Joliet, Ill.) to open the game — and the Cardinals were just getting warmed up.
 
Ziegler would knock down the first of his three, first-half 3-pointers — the record-setter — to cap a 12-0 run that gave SMU a 17-7 lead with 11:57 to play, and Saint Mary's would push that advantage to 14, 24-10, fittingly on another Ziegler triple. Macalester clawed to within seven twice late in the half — sandwiching a pair of Kaden Holdbrook 3-pointers around Ziegler's third 3-pointer of the day — but Mallory would answer with back-to-back buckets and the Cardinals would claim a nine-point, 38-29 lead at the break.
 
Mallory and the Cardinals came out of the break in much the same fashion as they opened the game — only better — as Mallory scored SMU's first nine points to give Saint Mary's a 15-point, 46-31 advantage just two minutes into the second half.
 
Another big Saint Mary's run, this one an 8-0 burst, pushed the Cardinal lead to 20, 54-34 — but that was just a sign of big things to come for SMU. After matching that 20-point advantage on a Mallory jumper that made it 56-36, the Cardinal lead ballooned to 25, 68-43, with 8:30 to play — thanks to back-to-back 3-pointers by Breyton Buysman (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) and a Mallory floater — and the Scots would get no closer than 19 the rest of the way.
 
Fueled by his big efforts to open the first and second half, Mallory closed out the game with a team-leading and career-high 27 points, going 11 of 22 from the field, including a pair of 3-pointers, and adding a 3-for-4 showing from the free throw line. Ziegler chipped in 16 points and Buysman added 15 for the Cardinals.
 
Saint Mary's — which eclipsed the 80-point mark for the third time this season — shot 49.2 percent from the field (32-for-65), including 9 of 21 from 3-point land, and went 10 of 12 from the free throw line. SMU held a commanding 43-29 edge in rebounds, led by Bruce Lockwood (Shakopee, Minn.) with eight, and Mallory and Buysman with seven each.
 
The Cardinals (2-7 MIAC, 3-10 overall) are back in action on Wednesday, when they head to Gustavus' Gus Young Court in St. Peter, Minn., for a 7 p.m. conference showdown with the Gusties.
 
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