PITTSBURGH, Pa. — James Cullen (Western Springs, Ill.) put up career numbers for the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's basketball team in the Cardinals' nonconference game against Carnegie Mellon Wednesday afternoon.
 
Unfortunately, the junior sharpshooter's career-high 22-point effort was not quite enough, as the Tartans raced out to a 14-point halftime cushion and held the Cardinals at bay over the game's final 20 minutes in dealing Saint Mary's an 85-66 setback at Skibo Gym.
 
The Cardinals struggled to find their shooting touch early, managing just two fields—one from Wylie Ferron (Waconia, Minn.) and the other by Chad Schlosser (Stillwater, Minn.)—in the game's opening eight minutes, as Carnegie Mellon raced out to a 16-point, 20-4 advantage.
 
Enter Cullen.
 
In a 13-minute span from Schlosser's layup at 15:55 to Aaron Romportl's (Stillwater, Minn.) 3-pointer at 3:05, Cullen scored 14 of  team's 18 points—including all four field goals—to keep the Cardinals' within striking distance.
 
The junior—coming off a team-high nine-point effort in the Cardinals' exhibition loss to NCAA Division I UW-Green Bay on Dec. 22—knocked down three straight 3-pointers to pull Saint Mary's within eight, 22-14 with 8:30 remaining.
 
The Tartans would push their lead back to 16 three times, including 33-28 with 3:20 left in the opening half, and, despite Cullen's fourth 3-pointer of the half—not to mention treys by Romportl and Bradley Hill (Matteson, Ill.)—Carnegie Mellon maintained a 44-30 advantage at the break.
 
Cullen continued to boast the hot hand in the second half, pouring in two more 3-pointers en route to his career-high 22-point performance.
 
The Cardinals, however, could not put a dent in the Tartans' halftime lead, as Carnegie Mellon used a pair of early runs to build its lead to as many as 27, 73-46. Saint Mary's cut the gap to 17 twice—78-61 and 83-66 on 3-pointers by Romportl and Liam Gorman (Orland Park, Ill.), respectively—but that was as close as the Cardinals would get.
 
Cullen was the only double-figure scorer for the Cardinals, who shot 31 percent from the field (22-for-71), but knocked down a season-high 12 3-pointers and were 10 of 17 from the free throw line.
 
Carnegie Mellon boasted three players in double figures, led by Jack Serbin with 18. Ryan Maha chipped in 16 points and Chris Shkil added 15 for the Tartans, who went 34 of 65 from the field (52 percent—including five 3s—and finished 12-for-19 from the free throw line.
 
The Cardinals (4-4 overall) return to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Monday, traveling to Hamline's Hutton Arena in St. Paul, Minn., for a 7 p.m. matchup against the Pipers.