NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's basketball team led wire-to-wire to bounce back from its first loss of the season with a 75-69 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) victory over Saint Mary's University (Minn.) on Wednesday evening at Skoglund Center.

After over a week off, St. Olaf (4-1, 2-1 MIAC) rebounded from a road loss to Concordia-Moorhead by never trailing in the win over Saint Mary's (1-4, 0-3 MIAC). Fifth-year senior Nathan Hendler, senior Michael Meriggioli, and junior Connor Martin were all in double figures for the Oles and combined for 48 of St. Olaf's 75 points in the win, which was St. Olaf's 15th in the last 17 meetings in the series.

Hendler scored a season-high 19 points on 9-for-13 shooting from the field and pulled down five rebounds in his fifth double-digit scoring performance in as many games this season. Meriggioli fell one point shy of his career high with 15 points to go with a team-high eight rebounds and four assists, while Martin added 14 points, five assists, and two steals for the Oles, who shot an even 50.0 percent from the field in both halves.

Owen Ziegler was 8-for-13 from three-point range on his way to a game-high 26 points for Saint Mary's. Raheem Anthony approached a triple-double with 18 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists, while Breyton Buysman had 17 points on 8-for-17 shooting for the Cardinals. The trio combined for 61 of the visitors' 69 points in the game.

St. Olaf made nine of its first 13 field-goal attempts over the first seven-plus minutes to race out to a 19-9 lead after Martin found senior Charlie Haff for a layup with 12:38 remaining in the first half. Senior Josh Albers had seven points during the quick start that ended with five-straight made field goals to prompt a Saint Mary's timeout.

The Oles extended their lead to as many as 14 at 32-18 with 6:20 to go in the half on a three-pointer by first year Kobe Kirk before the Cardinals mounted a late rally to get within 39-34 at the break. Ziegler hit four three-pointers over the span of less than four minutes of game time to help Saint Mary's knot the score at 34-34 before a layup by Martin and a three-pointer by Hendler gave St. Olaf a five-point lead. Ziegler hit 5-of-8 three-pointers in the opening half to keep the Cardinals in the game.

The visitors trimmed their deficit to just three on two occasions over the first seven-plus minutes of the second half and were within two at 55-53 with 10:50 to go after another three-pointer by Ziegler. St. Olaf responded with a 7-0 run – capped by a Kirk three-pointer – to push its lead back to nine, but Saint Mary's hung around to claw within three at 68-65 on a three-point play by Anthony with 5:48 remaining.

A put-back by senior Brendan Kauls followed by a layup by Hendler pushed the Oles' lead back to seven with four minutes to play. Anthony scored the next four points to make it a one-possession game with just over a minute to go, but St. Olaf got back-to-back stops and made 3-of-4 free throws down the stretch to finish off the win.

The Oles hit the road for their next two games, starting with a trip to Hamline University for a 1 p.m. tip-off on Saturday, Dec. 3.