WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's basketball team boasted three players in double figures—led by Nick Ogren (Stillwater, Minn.) with 11—in their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against Bethel Monday evening.
 
Unfortunately, the Cardinals' offensive arsenal was no match Bethel's long-range bombers, as the Royals drained 14 3-point field goals—including nine in the second half—and pulled away in handing Saint Mary's a 77-52 loss at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
The Cardinals scored the first two points of the first half, but Bethel answered with back-to-back 3-pointers by Trevor Hall and did not surrender the lead in taking a 35-25 advantage after the game's opening 20 minutes.
 
The Royals shot a blistering 56 percent from the field in the first half, knocking down 13 of their 23 field goals—including five 3-pointers. The Cardinals, meanwhile, got nine first-half points from Ogren—who was a perfect 3-for-3 from behind the 3-point line—and shot 31 percent (10-for-32) from the field heading into the break.
 
Over the game's final 20 minutes, however, the Cardinals hit on just 3 of 10 treys, while the Royals were just heating up—draining 9 of 18 3-pointers in the second half to seal their second straight conference win.
 
Saint Mary's scored seven of the first 11 second-half points, only to have Bethel go on a 14-5 run that included back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers to push its advantage to 16, 53-37, with 12 minutes remaining—and the Cardinals never recovered.
 
Ogren finished with a team- and career-high 11 points for the Cardinals, who also got 10 points from both Ronnie Ortiz (Dayton, Ohio) and Will Swiggum (St. Charles, Minn.). Swiggum also hauled in a season-high seven rebounds, sharing the team lead with Mark Schumacher (Perham, Minn.)
 
Hall recorded a game-high 17, while Kevin Von Schmidt-Pauli added13 and Kyle Zimmermann chipped in 12 for the Royals (2-0 MIAC, 5-1 overall).
 
The Cardinals (1-2 MIAC, 1-2 overall) are back in action on Wednesday, traveling to Schoencker Arena in St. Paul, Minn., for a 7 p.m. conference game against fifth-ranked St. Thomas.