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Cardinal Roster
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Cardinal Statistics
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Cardinal Schedule
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MIAC Standings
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MIAC Statistics
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| 2006-2007 Records: 0-0 MIAC / 0-2 Overall |
| Last Week's Results: Winona State 98, Saint Mary's 54 / Details UW-Eau Claire 78, Saint Mary's 65 / Details |
| Upcoming Games: Wed., Nov. 29: SMU at St. Thomas, 5:45 Sat., Dec. 2: SMU at Saint John's, 3:00 |
| Cardinal News and Notes: With Friday's setback vs. Winona State, the Cardinals have now lost eight straight season openers, dating back to a 78-71 win over Iowa Wesleyan to kick off the 1998-99 season. … SMU’s loss to Winona State was also its 19th straight vs. the Warriors. The Cardinals’ last win vs. WSU was a 55-46 triumph in 1986. … The Cardinals' also saw their losing streak vs. UW-Eau Claire climb to four straight with Saturday's loss. … WSU’s 98 points were the most allowed by the Cardinals since Regis (Colo.) beat SMU 98-64 during the 2002-2003 season. … Brensley Haywood (Joliet, Ill.) netted a team-high 14 points vs. the Warriors, then added 11 points vs. UW-EC to boast a team-best 12.5 ppg last week. … Michael Batterman (Fond du Lac, Wis.) tallied a team-leading 16 points in SMU's loss to UW-Eau Claire — 12 of those 16 points coming from the free throw line, where Batterman was 12-for-14. … SMU shot just 35 percent (40-for-113) from the field in its two games last week, while also managing just an 11-for-35 effort from behind the 3-point line. |
to defending national champion WSU, Eau Claire
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Brensley
Haywood 12.5 ppg vs. Winona State, Eau Claire |
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, it was the visiting Blugolds that fit the role of the bully to perfection.
UW-Eau Claire took advantage of the Cardinals' ice-cold second-half shooting to turn a four-point halftime advantage into a runaway, as the Blugolds handed SMU a 78-65 nonconference setback at the SMU Gym.
"It's not to tough to figure this one out — we've got to make shots, it's that simple," said SMU coach Mike Trewick, whose team was coming off a 98-54 loss to Winona State on Friday. "The frustrating part was, we were getting good shots. We were getting the ball into the hands of the people we wanted to shoot — we just weren't knocking them down.
"And against a team like Eau Claire, or any team for that matter, if you don't make your shots, it's pretty tough to win."
The two teams traded punches for the game's opening 20 minutes, as SMU led by as many as three, while the Blugolds held the biggest lead of the half, 38-31 on a basket by Troy Holewinski with 1:23 remaining. The Cardinals responded with a half-ending 5-2 run to cut the deficit to four, 40-36 at the break.
That, however, was as close as SMU would get, as the Cardinals missed failed to score on their first 11 trips down the court in the second half, missing nine field goal attempts and turning the ball over on two other occasions.
Fortunately for the Cardinals, UW-Eau Claire was equally as frigid in the early going. When Michael Batterman (Fond du Lac, Wis.) finally got a Cardinal field goal to fall six minutes into the half, SMU was only trailing by seven, 46-39.
Batterman's bucket didn't do much to ignite the SMU offense, but it certainly lit a fire under the Blugolds, who used a 21-13 run to grab a 15-point cushion, 69-54, with 2:39 remaining. Dan Cormier (Blaine, Minn.) completed a three-point play to cut the gap to 12, 71-59, but that was as close as SMU would get, as UW-Eau Claire cruised to its fourth straight win vs. the Cardinals.
"We're getting there," said Trewick, whose team opens conference play on Wednesday at St. Thomas. "We've played three very tough teams, and I think we've learned a lot from each game. Nobody likes to start out the season with three straight losses, but it's been a valuable learning experience for our younger guys.
"Sure, we could have scheduled a couple of games against teams we knew we could beat, but what good would that have done us? Maybe we'd be 2-1 right now, but I don't think we'd be as well off as we are right now.
"Our goal is to keep getting better every day, and so far, I think we've done that."