WINONA, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's basketball team snapped a 15-game losing streak and picked up its first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) victory of the season with a 78-67 road win over Saint Mary's University on Wednesday evening at Saint Mary's Fieldhouse.

St. Olaf (2-15, 1-7 MIAC) rode a balanced scoring attack with four in double figures and a season-best 56.5 percent (26-for-46) shooting performance from the field to break its longest losing streak since also dropping 15 in a row to start the 1981-82 season. The Oles led Saint Mary's (5-13, 1-7 MIAC) for the final 28-plus minutes and were up for over 34 minutes in the game.

Junior Kobe Kirk and first year AJ Uhl scored 15 points apiece for St. Olaf, with Kirk going 9-for-10 at the free-throw line and Uhl shooting 5-for-9 from the field and 5-for-6 from the charity stripe. Sophomore Jachin Mertes registered his second double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds while shooting 7-for-8 from the field. First year Rex Lamb was 3-for-4 from three-point range while adding 11 points off the bench for his first double-figure output of the season.

The Oles shot over 56.0 percent in both halves, shooting 56.0 percent (14-for-25) in the first half and 57.1 percent (12-for-21) in the second. Lamb's 11 points off the bench helped St. Olaf to a 27-18 advantage in bench scoring, with first years Liam Roche and Luther Tostrud both knocking down a pair of three-pointers off the bench as well.

Jabari Sawyer scored a game-high 16 points for Saint Mary's, which shot 42.4 percent (25-for-59) overall. Breyton Busyman and Jemari Moore were both in double figures with 13 and 12, respectively, for the Cardinals, who shot 51.7 percent (15-for-29) after the break after hitting just 33.3 percent (10-for-30) of their shots in the first 20 minutes.

Back-to-back buckets by Moore and Sawyer gave Saint Mary's a 14-10 lead eight minutes in, which proved to be the largest lead of the night for the hosts. Midway through the half, St. Olaf drained five consecutive three-pointers by reserves – two each from Lamb and Roche and one from Tostrud – to built a 27-18 lead with 6:42 left.

Inside the final three minutes of the half, Tostrud's second three-pointer of the half extended the Oles' lead to 34-23 for their largest cushion of the half. The Cardinals responded with the next five points before Kirk scored the final four points of the half to give St. Olaf a 38-28 halftime lead. The Oles' bench accounted for 20 of their 38 points in the first half.

St. Olaf made its first six shots of the second half but only grew its lead by two in the first five-plus minutes, despite six early points from Mertes. Past the midway point of the half, Saint Mary's trimmed its deficit to three at 56-53 with eight minutes left with a 10-2 run, but that was as close as the hosts got. Lamb connected on his third three-pointer of the game to bump St. Olaf's lead back to seven with 5:44 remaining before the Oles went 11-for-12 at the free-throw line over the final 4:43 to secure the victory.

St. Olaf will play four of its next five games at home, starting with a 3 p.m. tip-off against crosstown-rival Carleton College on Saturday, Jan. 25.