WINONA, Minn. — Defensively, the Saint Mary's University men's basketball team made giant strides last Saturday against UW-La Crosse.

The Cardinals, who gave up 95 points in their season-opening 95-61 loss to cross-town rival Winona State, held the host Eagles to just 56 points Saturday.

Offensively, however, the Cardinals took a giant step backwards, as UW-L held SMU to just 50 points en route to the 56-50 nonconference victory.

"We played much better (than in their opener against Winona State)," understated SMU coach Mark Lovelace. "This was a game that we very easily could have won, but over the final five minutes, we just fell apart."

SMU, which falls to 0-2 heading into Wednesday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener at home against Hamline, led by as many as six in the first half, but headed into the locker room at the half trailing by two, 24-22.

And it was more of the same in the second half. The game was tied 13 times, with the second free throw by UW-L's Casey Taggatz giving the Eagles the lead for good, 47-46 with 4:15 remaining. Jason Kemp added two free throws of his own to give UW-L a 49-46 advantage, but Michael Batterman (Fond du Lac, Wis.) got the Cardinals back within one, 49-48, on a jumper with 3:28 remaining.

From there, however, it was all Eagles, as UW-L scored seven of the game's final nine points to seal the win. The Eagles went to the free-throw line 12 times in the game's final six minutes, making 10 of 12 attempts.

"It was like watching a different team out there (in the final five minutes)," said Lovelace. "We had more than enough chances (to win), but we just didn't make the right plays.

"This team only won two games last year, and one of the things they have to learn all over again is how to win," continued Lovelace. "There is no secret formula (to winning) — the only way they are going to learn how to win is to go out every single day and compete in practice."

Terrence Smith (Broadview, Ill.) scored a team-high 14 points for the Cardinals, hitting 5 of 11 attempts from the field and 4 of 5 free throws. Ryan Bormann (Preston, Iowa) was a perfect 5-for-5 from the line en route to 13 points for SMU, while Batterman finished with nine points.

"I saw a lot of good things in that game — we just beat ourselves down the stretch," said Lovelace. "Everyone on this team knows that that was a game we could have — and probably should have — won.

"But you can't play the shoulda, coulda game too often. We need to keep getting better, so that when the opportunity (to win) arises, we go out and get the job done."