WINONA, Minn. — On an afternoon when Wylie Ferron (Waconia, Minn.) set a career-high for points in a game, and equaled his career high in rebounds, it was only fitting that the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota senior would be at the free throw line—with the game tied in the final seconds.
 
And as he had done all day, Ferron came through in the clutch, knocking down those two free throws with six seconds remaining, lifting the Cardinals to a 75-73 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win over Gustavus—and snapping Saint Mary's 12-game losing streak against the Gusties, dating back to a 78-75 win on Jan. 27, 2010.
 
Ferron was good in the first half—and even better in the second—en route to his team-leading, game-high, and career-best 22-point effort against the Gusties. The Cardinal senior scored 10 points and added nine rebounds in the game's opening 20 minutes, before adding 12 points and four more boards en route to his third double-double of the season.
 
The Cardinals dominated the game's opening 10 minutes, using a 17-5 run to grab a 21-9 advantage with 10:21 remaining. Three minutes later, thanks to a Ferron put-back bucket, the Saint Mary's lead had ballooned to 17, 32-15.
 
Over those final six minutes of the half, however, the Gusties clawed their way back, outscoring the Cardinals 17-4 to whittle the Saint Mary's lead to four, 36-32, at the break.
 
 The Cardinals knocked down a pair of early 3-pointers to spark a half-opening 11-4 run that gave Saint Mary's a 47-36 cushion. Saint Mary's pushed its lead to as many as 10, 69-59, only to have Gustavus answer by scoring 14 of the next 18 points—including a game-tying 3-pointer by Alec Koster with 20.2 seconds on the clock.
 
And setting up Ferron's last-second heroics.
 
Ferron was on e of three Cardinals to finish in double figures, as Quashingm Smith-Pugh (St. Paul, Minn.) chipped in 17 points and Kevin Gleason (Minneapolis, Minn.) finished with 16. Smith-Pugh also added 10 rebounds to join Ferron in the double-double category, while Cole Kruger (Hayfield, Minn.) chipped in nine points and a team-best four steals.
 
Saint Mary's shot 47 percent from the field (29-for-61)—including knocking down six 3-pointers, and adding an 11-for-17 effort from the free throw line. Gustavus, meanwhile, hit on 28 of 54 field goals (52 percent), but were just 3-for-11 from beyond the arc and 14 of 17 from the line.
 
Kelsey Thomas netted a team-best 14 points for the Gusties.
 
The Cardinals (2-2 MIAC, 4-3 overall) are back in action on Dec. 22, when they travel to Green Bay, Wis., for a 7 p.m. exhibition game against NCAA Division I UW-Green Bay.