WINONA, Minn. - In their second meeting of the season, the Hamline men's basketball team (2-5, 1-3) would see Saint Mary's (6-2, 3-1 MIAC) rally in the final three minutes to come away with a 57-54 win on their home court.
The Pipers, after trailing by eight at halftime, took over a lead in the middle of the second half and would lead by five with three minutes to go. From there, Saint Mary's Raheem Anthony scored eight straight points to put SMU ahead by three and Kareem Anthony-Bello sank three free throws to lead SMU to the three-point win.
Hamline had three players end in double figures. Junior
Luke Siwek finished the game with 14 points, while sophomore
Marshall Holland scored 12 and collected seven rebounds. Senior
Trey Prince was the final Piper to reach double digits with 10 points, adding five rebounds and an assist. Junior
Andrew Jackson led the HU rebounding efforts, with nine in the contest.
Turnovers proved to be costly for the Pipers in the game, as the Cardinals forced 16 turnovers which they turned into 19 points. SMU also scored 16 points off of offensive rebounds, compared to HU's eight points off second chances.
The Pipers shot 40.0% from both the field (20-50) and from deep (6-15), holding better percentages in both categories than Saint Mary's, who shot 35.0% from the floor (21-60) and 25.8% from three (8-31).
Hamline scored the first five points of the game and would extend their lead to nine (16-7) after the first eight minutes. The Cardinals used a 10-0 run later in the half to put themselves up by three at 21-18. An and-one from sophomore
Jake Veldman would tie it up at 21 all, but Saint Mary's ended the half scoring 14 of the last 20 points to take a 35-27 advantage into the break.
HU flipped the script in the start of the second half, going on an 18-1 scoring run to put themselves up by nine (45-36) with seven minutes left in the game. The Pipers would hold onto a lead until the final two minutes when Saint Mary's closed out the game with eight of the final 11 points to win it 57-54.
The Pipers are scheduled for two more games as part of their shortened 2021 season, as they head to Concordia Moorhead on Wednesday and then host Gustavus on Saturday.