St. Mary's shut down the Scots to just one basket over a decisive 4:48 stretch late in the second half and made most of its free throws down the stretch to come from behind and defeat Macalester 87-80 at the Leonard Center.  The Scots led 53-43 five minutes into the second half before the Cardinals took control.

The Scots shot 52% from the floor, including 7-for-16 on three-pointers, but St. Mary's shot 56% and went 27-for-32 from the foul line.

Leading the Scots in scoring for the first time this year was Justin Wasik (Fy., Park Ridge, Ill. / Maine South), who drilled 4-of-6 from three-point range and finished with 20 points to go along with three steals.  Pierce Peters (So., Glenwood, Minn. / Minnewaska Area) picked up his second double-double of the season, finishing with 17 points and 10 rebounds.  Kyle Hamblett (Sr., Paris, France / American School of Paris) chipped in the 15 points and four assists.

Holden Bigler-Johnson (Sr., Austin, Tex. / Anderson) distributed a career-high seven assists and also scored nine points on a 4-for-5 shooting day.

After the score was tied 35-35 at the intermission, Macalester played its best ball of the afternoon, out-scoring the Cards 18-8 to go up by 10 points at the 14:54 mark.

Will Wright finished with 29 points to pace the Cardinals, and Lukas Holland added 23.  Combined, they went 17-for-28 from the field and 13-for-15 from the charity stripe.  SMU is now 3-1 overall and 1-1 in the MIAC, while Mac is 0-5 on the season, 0-2 in the MIAC.

The Scots return to the floor Wednesday (Dec. 8) when they host Gustavus at 7:30 p.m.