By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
NORTHFIELD, Minn. — Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's basketball coach Jamison Rusthoven must have been left scratching his head following the opening 20 minutes of Wednesday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference matchup against St. Olaf.
 
After all, his Cardinals put together a rock-solid offensive effort through the first half, shooting 46 percent from the field—and were staring at a 20-point halftime deficit.
 
Unfortunately, as good as Saint Mary's was from the field—knocking down 12 of 26 field goals, including four 3-pointers—the Oles were even better.
 
St. Olaf erupted for 51 first-half points, shooting a sizzling 64.5 percent from the field—draining 20 of 31 attempts from the field, including seven 3-pointers—and never cooled off in dealing the Cardinals an 85-49 setback at Skoglund Center.
 
Oles were virtually unstoppable in the game's opening 20 minutes, scoring the first seven points of the contest and building their lead to 15, 33-18, with 6:00 remaining. Saint Mary's would knock down back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the deficit to nine, 33-24, but St. Olaf continued to sizzle from the field, outscoring the Cardinals 18-7 over the final five minutes to take a 20-point, 51-31 lead into the locker room at the half.
 
And the 15-minute intermission did nothing to cool off the hot-shooting Oles, as St. Olaf opened the second half on a 14-1 run to push its lead to 33, 65-32 and never took its foot off the accelerator—outscoring Saint Mary's 34-18 over the game's final 20 minutes en route to its sixth win in the Oles' first eight games.
 
Saint Mary's was unable to match its 46-percent effort from the field in the second half, making just 6 of 30 field goal attempts (20 percent)—including 3 of 12 from behind the 3-point line. Saint Mary's finished 18 of 56 from the field for the game, draining seven 3-pointers and going 6-for-10 from the free throw line.
 
After shooting 64 percent from the field in the first half, the Oles "cooled off" a bit in the final 20 minutes, going 13 of 22 (59 percent) and hit 3 of 7 3-pointers. For the game, St, Olaf finished 33-for-53 (62 percent) with 10 treys and a 10 of 14 effort from the charity stripe.
 
James Cullen (Western Springs, Ill.) and Kareem Anthony-Bello (Chicago, Ill.) both finished with 10 points to pace the Cardinals, while Robert Tobroxen and Austin Korba each poured in 19 points and Troy Diggins Jr. chipped in 14 for the Oles.
 
The Cardinals (0-5 MIAC, 1-7 overall) are now off until Dec. 29-30, when they travel to Wisconsin Dells, Wis., to take part in the JustAGame Holiday Classic. Saint Mary's will face UW-Oshkosh at 5 p.m. on Dec. 29, before squaring off against UW-Platteville at 3 p.m. the following day.