WINONA, Minn. — It had been 30 days since the Saint Mary's University men's basketball team knocked off Macalester 66-57 on the Cardinals' home floor.

In that 30-day span since SMU's upset win, the Scots went 8-1 — reeling off eight straight victories before last Wednesday's overtime loss to league-leading Gustavus.

So, when the two teams met Saturday afternoon in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference rematch, the Scots certainly had a score to settle.

And settle they did — but it wasn't easy.

Macalester scored the game's final five points, snapping a 74-74 tie and leading the Scots to a 79-74 victory over SMU.

Jeff Tendall (LeClaire, Iowa) scored a game- and career-high 29 points for the Cardinals, who led 32-31 at the half, and held a four-point, 71-67 lead with 4:24 remaining in regulation.

Macalester scored five straight points on three free throws and a field goal by Ben Thorre to give the Scots a 72-71 advantage with 2:27 left. Terrence Smith (Broadview, Ill.), who finished with 10 points, nailed a jumper to give SMU a 73-72 lead and a free throw by Tendall pushed that lead to two, 74-72, with 1:48 to play.

From there, however, it was all Macalester, as the Scots scored the game's final five points — thanks in part to three missed field goals and a missed free throw by the Cardinals — en route to the five-point win.

The Cardinals shot 45 percent from the field (23-=for-51), and were 22 of 31 from the free-throw line. But in the Cardinals made just 1 of 5 free-throws over the game's final five minutes in dropping their third straight.

And the road doesn’t get any easy for the Cardinals, whose next two games are against Concordia (tonight) and league-leading Gustavus (Wednesday).

In fact, in a span of five days beginning with last Saturday’s loss, SMU will have faced the top three teams in the conference — all of which have already wrapped up MIAC post-season tournament berths.