WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's basketball team matched cross-town rival Winona State blow-for-blow for the first 20 minutes of Wednesday's nonconference game.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the final 20 minutes were a mismatch as Winona State shot 53 percent from the field in the second half — and held SMU to just 12 second-half field goals — in pulling away for a 77-64 victory.

The Cardinals kept things interesting in the first half, using an 8-2 run to cut the WSU gap to one, 22-21 with 10 minutes remaining, then rode a 7-0 run that made it a 32-32 game with four minutes remaining. The Warriors scored the final six points of the half to take a nailbiting 38-32 advantage into the locker room at the break.

Winona State hit its first three shots of the second half and never looked back, building the lead to as many as 19, 74-55 in handing SMU its second loss in its first three games.

Jarvier Pitchford (Chicago, Ill.) netted a season-high 21 points for SMU, but the junior was also the only Cardinal with more than eight points. David Zellmann scored a game-high 22 points and John Smith added 16 points and 14 rebounds for the Warriors (4-1 overall).