By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director

WINONA, Minn. — For the second straight exhibition game this season, the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's basketball team gave its opponent all it could handle over the game's opening 20 minutes.
 
After trailing NCAA Division I Western Illinois by just four, 47-43 in their first exhibition game on Nov. 11, the Cardinals did that effort one better Tuesday evening against NCAA Division II Winona State.
 
Fueled by nine 3-pointers, the Cardinals had the Warriors on the ropes, taking a one-point, 47-46 lead into the locker room at the half.
 
Unfortunately, as was the case against Western Illinois—in which the Leathernecks outscored Saint Mary's 62-25 in the second half of a 109-68 WIU victory—the final 20 minutes was not kind to the Cardinals against Winona State.
 
The Warriors closed out the second half on a 27-3 run, quickly erasing that one-point deficit and dealing the Cardinals a 100-61 exhibition setback at WSU's McCown Gym.
 
The Cardinals came out firing on all cylinders, as Kareem Anthony-Bello (Chicago, Ill.), Sawyer Rosner (Phelps, Wis.), James Cullen (Western Springs, Ill.)—twice—and Kristjan Meitz (Waukesha, Wis.) all knocked down 3-pointers to give Saint Mary's an early 15-13 lead.
 
The Warriors responded by scoring 25 of the next 43 points to grab its biggest lead of the half, 38-33, only to have Saint Mary's close out the half on a 14-8 run to take its 47-46 lead into the halftime intermission.
 
And then came the second half.
 
Winona State scored eight of the first 10 points and never looked back, outscoring Saint Mary's 54-14 over the final 20 minutes to seal the victory.
 
Cullen finished with a team-high 12 points for the Cardinals, while Rosner chipped in 11 and Bello finished with nine. Saint Mary's, which shot 55 percent from the field (18-for-33)—including a 9 of 20 effort from behind the 3-point line—in the first half, made just 4 of 25 field goal attempts in the second half.
 
Winona State, which shot 52 percent from the field and drained nine 3-pointers, got double figure scoring from five different players, led by Corey Jeffs with 27 and Connor Flack with 19.
 
The Cardinals are back in action on Saturday, as Saint Mary's heads to River Forest, Ill., for a 4 p.m. nonconference game against Concordia-Chicago.