By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. — Saint John's entered Saturday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's basketball team leading all of NCAA Division III in field goal percentage.
 
And no matter what the Cardinals tried, they could not cool off the hot-shooting Johnnies.
 
Saint John's shot 54 percent from the field—including a sizzling 63 percent in the second half—in dealing the Cardinals an 82-52 conference setback at Sexton Arena.
 
Saint Mary's had the upper hand early, getting a pair of 3-pointers from Kareem Anthony-Bello (Chicago, Ill.) en route to an 8-2 lead. Saint Mary's also led by six, 10-4 on two Jakob Bailey (Cameron, Wis.) free throws, but SJU would score 10 of the game's next 12 points to take its first lead, 14-12.
 
And once they got the upper hand, the Johnnies turned up the offensive heat, using a 23-4 run to push their lead to 19, 37-18—and outscoring Saint Mary's 7-6 down the stretch to take a 20-point, 44-24, lead into the locker room at the break.
 
Saint John's continued to carry the hot hand in the second half, shooting a whopping 63 percent from the field—draining 15 of its 24 field goals, including five 3-pointers—in outscoring the Cardinals 38-28 over the game's final 20 minutes.
 
Bailey and Anthony-Bello led the way for the Cardinals, each scoring 12 points. Bailey 3 of 10 from the field and a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line, while Anthony-Bello made 4 of his 11 field-goal attempts—including those two first-half 3-pointers—and was 2-for-2 from the line.
 
As a team, the Cardinals shot 34 percent from the field (19-for-56) with three 3-pointers, while going 11 of 15 from the free throw line.
 
Brent Hentges led the way for Saint John's, netting 14 points—including 10 in the first half, while Oakley Baker and Tyler Weiss each chipped in 12 points and Lucas Walford hauled in a team- and game-high 10 rebounds.
 
The Cardinals (0-6 MIAC, 1-10 overall) are back in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Monday, as Saint Mary's entertains Concordia in a 7 p.m. matchup at the Saint Mary's Gym.