WINONA, Minn. – The Macalester College men's basketball team lost a tough MIAC battle to Saint Mary's University on the road, 66-61 Wednesday evening at Saint Mary's Gym. The Scots are now 6-13 overall and 3-11 in conference play, while the Cardinals improve to 9-9, 6-7 MIAC.

After opening the game down 7-0, Macalester bounced back with a 16-4 run, sparked by threes from sophomore guard Eric Sathy (Cupertino, Calif./Homestead) and junior forward Xander Schmidt (New York, N.Y./Trevor Day School), for a 16-11 lead. The Scots pushed their advantage to 25-18 before Saint Mary's scored the next 10 points to lead 28-25 with 4:50 left in the half. A conventional three-point play by junior guard Gabriel Ramos (Dorado, Puerto Rico/Tasis Dorado) and four free throws from junior forward Jackson Henningfield (Lake Mary, Fla./Lyman) and junior guard Tyler McFarland (Denver, Colo./New Hampton School) helped Macalester close the half on an 11-2 run to take a 36-30 lead into the break. The Scots shot 52.0 percent from the floor and made 4-of-10 from beyond the arc in the first half.

Three-pointers by McFarland and senior guard Nathan Davies (Aitkin, Minn./Aitkin) helped to extend Macalester's lead to 48-36 with 13:20 remaining. Over the next 6:14, the Cardinals went on a game-changing, 21-2 run to flip momentum and take a 57-50 lead with 7:06 on the clock. During the run, the Scots turned the ball over five times and went 1-of-7 from the field. Baskets by Henningfield and Ramos plus a pair of free throws from Ramos brought Macalester to within three, 59-56 with two minutes left. After empty possessions by each team, Saint Mary's guard Eli Cave hit a contested jumper with under a minute to play to give the Cardinals a 61-56 edge.

Two free throws put the Cardinals up 63-56 before a jumper by McFarland and a Henningfield three cut the deficit to two, 63-61 with 15 seconds to play. But Saint Mary's hit 3-of-4 from the line down the stretch to close out the Cardinals' second win over the Scots this season.

Ramos scored a team-best 16 points to go with six rebounds, while Henningfield finished with 12 points, seven boards and three assists. McFarland added nine points, with Sathy and sophomore center Shane Anderson (Fargo, N.D./Davies) scoring eight points apiece. Cave paced Saint Mary's with 22 points, seven rebounds and three steals.

Macalester continues conference play with another road game on Saturday, Feb. 1 at Bethel University. Game time is set for 1:00 p.m. in Arden Hills, Minn.