St. Mary's stuns men's basketball

The Cardinals (2-4, 2-2 in the MIAC) scored back-to-back threes by Jen Gencius and Mikey Sweeney to knot the game at 87-87. After a pair of missed free throws, Cormier hit a 15-foot baseline jumper to give St. Mary's their first lead of the game.

Cormier led the Cardinals with 25 points on 9-of-17 shooting from the field. He also grabbed eight rebounds.

The Pipers (1-5, 0-3) led by double digits for most of the game. Hamline led by as many as 20 in the first half before St. Mary's cut the lead to 52-41 at the break. The lead expanded to 16 points with under 12 minutes to play before the Cardinals rallied.

Cardinal Brensley Haywood hit threes on three of four possessions during an 11-2 St. Mary's run that cut the lead to 82-78 with 5:41 left in the game. Brensley scored 14 points in the contest. Sweeney added 18 points, and Michael Batterman chipped in 11.

Earlier on, it looked like the Pipers would walk away with their first conference win of the season. Hamline jumped out to a 17-8 lead after eight straight points by sophomore Tony Thrasher. The forward finished the night with a game-high 26 points on 11-of-18 shooting. The lead would balloon to 50-30 with five minutes for play in the half.

Jon DeRock added 19 points. Kyle Foster chipped in 13. First-years Brad Brake and Luke Johanson netted 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Both teams shot well from the field. Hamline shot 55.7 percent for the game (34-61) while St. Mary's was 51.7 percent from the floor (31-60), but the Cardinals went 7-of-12 from three-point range in the second half. The Pipers went 8-of-12 from three before being shut out in the second half (0-of-5).

The Pipers will play at Minnesota State on Friday. Game time is set for 8:00 p.m.