Photos of St. Thomas game / Click here

WINONA, Minn. — Heading into Saturday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic conference showdown with league-leading St. Thomas, the Saint Mary's University men's basketball team hoped their not-so-secret weapon — a home-court advantage that helped SMU win seven of nine home games — would be enough to inch the Cardinals closer to an elusive post-season playoff berth.

With 15 minutes remaining in regulation, it looked like a little home cooking was just what the Cardinals' needed, as SMU boasted a commanding 47-35 advantage.

Over those final 15 minutes, however, SMU's offense went into a sudden hibernation —  and the Tommies' sharpshooters found their mark — as UST used a 39-21 outburst to erase the Cardinals' lead and lead St. Thomas to a 74-68 win.

"It's disappointing, because the effort that these guys put forth was terrific," said SMU coach Mike Trewick. "We knew this game was going to be a battle for us — but we also knew that if we played the way we are capable of playing, we could come away with a win."

And they almost did just that.

The Cardinals, who have now dropped a season-high five straight — not to mention 37 straight against the Tommies, dating back to an 86-78 on Jan. 11, 1988 — led 37-30 at the half, and scored 10 of the first 15 points of the second half to take their largest lead of the game, 47-35.

Fueled by a pair of shot-clock-beating bombs from Mike Keating and Sean Sweeney — along with a 1-for-7 performance from the field by the Cardinals — UST finally grabbed the lead, 54-52 with 8:21 remaining, and never looked back.

Brensley Haywood (Joliet, Ill.) netted a game-high 24 points — the fourth time this season the SMU junior has scored 20 or more points — to lead the Cardinals (7-11 MIAC, 9-14 overall). Terrence Smith (Broadview, Ill.) chipped in 19 points and Dan Cormier (Blaine, Minn.) added 11 rebounds for SMU, while Bryan Schnettler's 20 points led the way for the Tommies.

"This has been a season-long learning process, and this game was another valuable lesson," said Trewick, whose team — still clinging to an outside shot at making the playoffs — needs to win at Carleton next Wednesday and at home against St. Olaf on Saturday if they are to cotinue playing after the regular-season ends. "We're still learning what it takes to play with the lead — we haven't quite figured it out yet, but we are doing great job putting ourselves in that position (to win).

"No matter what happens (over the final week), this team has made such great strides. They just keep getting better every day."