ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's basketball team made its second trip to St. Paul in the last three days Wednesday evening.
 
And for the second time in as many trips, the Cardinals were in a knock-down, drag-out battle right up to the final buzzer.
 
Unlike Monday's heartbreaking 89-86 setback to Hamline, however, this time around, the Cardinals found some late-game, Kevin Gleason (Minneapolis, Minn.) magic.
 
Gleason scored Saint Mary's final six points—including the game-winning basket with 20 seconds remaining in regulation—to lift the Cardinals to a 76-74 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory at Leonard Center.
 
The Cardinals came out on fire, scoring the game's first eight points, but a 13-0 Macalester run gave the Scots a 13-8 advantage—a lead they would push to as many as seven, before a late Saint Mary's burst cut the lead to one, 40-39 at the break.
 
Macalester came out smoking to open the second half, scoring 19 of the first 27 points to push its lead to 12, 59-47. That 12-point deficit, however, did not faze the Cardinals, who slowly whittled away at the Scots' advantage—eventually pulling even, 72-72, on a 3-pointer by Gleason.
 
Gleason would drain a pair of free throws to give Saint Mary's a 74-72 lead, and, after a basket by Macalester's Michael Gutierrez, Gleason completed his six-point run with a layup with 20 seconds remaining to give the Cardinals the lead for good.
 
Gleason and Eli Cave (St. Paul, Minn.) each finished with a team-high 15 points for the Cardinals, while Wylie Ferron (Waconia, Minn.) and James Cullen (Western Springs, Ill.) also scored in double figures, finishing with 14 and 11 points, respectively. Ferron chipped in 11 rebounds to his 14-point effort for his fourth double-double of the season.
 
The Cardinals shot 43 percent from the field (26-for-60)—including an 8 of 22 effort from the 3-point line—while also going 16 of 24 from the free throw line. Macalester, meanwhile, hit on 41 percent of its field goal attempts (24-for-58) with nine 3-pointers, and went 17-for-23 from the charity stripe.
 
Isaac Siegel scored a game-high 24 points for Macalester, while Kareem Ismail (16), Guiterrez (13), and Dylan Kilgour (13) also scored in double figures for the Scots.
 
The Cardinals (3-3 MIAC, 5-5 overall) are now off until next Wednesday, when they return home to the Saint Mary's Gym for a 7 p.m. conference showdown against Augsburg.