St. Bonifacius, MN - Crown battled the visiting Saint Mary's (MN) Cardinals, but came up short, 81-69 in the home opener for the Polars.

The Polars got off to a hot start leading for a good portion of the first half. The Cardinals closed the gap to take the lead after a 17-7 run to end the first half.

Crown trailed 39-38 at the break, and after a good run to start the second half saw the Polars lead by four, the Polars trailed by as many as 10 points with 5:23 remaining. Crown wouldn't be able to get any closer than that as SMU closed out the game.

Cade Carroll had 24 points to lead the Polars and added 9 rebounds in the contest. Carter Behne had 12 points going six of nine from the field, and Alec Testerman had an efficient night with nine points on 4-8 shooting adding 4 assists as well.

Jacob Van Dam and Jacob Masek were both very active on the boards adding 6 rebounds apiece.

Crown will travel to Concordia-Moorhead on Friday, November 11th to take on the Cobbers at 7pm for their first road contest of the season, followed by a Saturday match up with Trinity Bible at 2pm in Ellendale, ND.