THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — The Saint Mary's University men's basketball team had little time to savor its first victory in nearly a year — an 87-37 win over Cal-Tech on Thursday — as the Cardinals were back on the court Friday against high-powered Cal-Lutheran.

And, unfortunately for the Cardinals, their winning ways didn't last long, as Cal-Lutheran held SMU to 20 first-half points en route to a 77-57 nonconference victory.

Cal-Lutheran, which has qualified for the NCAA Division III national tournament in each of the last 11 years, got a game-high 28 points from Zareh Avedin, and a double-double of 21 points and 10 rebounds from Ryan Hodges en route to their fifth win in seven games.

Jeff Tendall (LeClaire, Iowa), netted a team-high 18 points for the Cardinals (1-7 overall), while Michael Batterman (Fond du Lac, Wis.) also finished in double figures, scoring 10 points.

The Cardinals, who held Cal-Tech to just five first-half points on 1 of 20 shooting in Thursday's win, struggled from the field against Cal-Lutheran, hitting just 7 of 20 first-half field goal attempts in falling behind 35-20 after the game's opening 20 minutes.

Things weren't much better for the Cardinals in the second half, as the Cardinals netted just 10 of 27 field goal attempts (37 percent).