WINONA, Minn. —Saint Mary's University men's basketball coach Mark Lovelace said after last Wednesday's 58-55 loss to Hamline that his team was getting closer — they weren't' there yet, but they were getting closer.

Problem is, close just doesn't translate into "W's" in the win column.

And that's exactly where the Cardinals found themselves against Saturday afternoon against St. Olaf — close, but not close enough.

SMU held a one-point, 48-47 advantage with 5:51 remaining in regulation. From there, however, St. Olaf rattled off 12 of the next 13 points to take a commanding 58-49 advantage en route to a 65-56 MIAC victory at the SMU Gym.

Todd Yankowski (Chicago, Ill.) Jimmy Wajda (Minneapolis, Minn.) and John Gencius (Chicago, Ill.) all scored 10 points for the Cardinals, who are still searching for their first win in falling to 0-4 overall and 0-2 in the MIAC. Matt Schlenker netted a game-high 18 points and Jon Butala chipped in 12 for the Oles, who evened their conference record at 1-1 (2-1 overall) with the win.

Neither team shot exceptionally well in the first half, as St. Olaf hit just 11 of 28 field goal opportunities — including just 1 of 6 from beyond the 3-point line, while SMU was 7-for-19 from the field.

St. Olaf picked things up in the second half, knocking down 11 of 25 field goal attempts and making 12 of 23 from the free-throw line, but the Cardinals remained ice cold, shooting 35 percent (11-for-31) over the game's final 20 minutes.