Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, despite playing without injured leading scorer Keith Germain, hung tough with IU Kokomo for 32 minutes Saturday at Hamilton Arena.
The final eight minutes, unfortunately for the Pomeroy faithful, saw the Cougars pull away for a 64-46 men's college basketball victory.
The Cougars, the River States Conference West Division leaders with records of 12-5 overall and 6-1 in the league, are receiving votes in the NAIA Coaches Poll.
The Pomeroys showed resolve in the first half, climbing out of a 24-14 deficit to go into halftime trailing just 28-24. Elkin Ramirez (Indianapolis, Ind./Providence Cristo Rey) hit two 3-pointers and Davin Miller (Cleveland, Ohio) slammed home one of four alley-oop dunks in the game during a 10-2 run for the Pomeroys late in the first half.
Ramirez finished as SMWC's lone player in double figures with 15 points; he hit 5 of 10 from beyond the 3-point arc.
IUK made a small surge to start the second half, with Ramirez stopping the bleeding after eight unanswered points by the Cougars. Still, IUK came back to take its largest lead to that point at 42-29 with 16:06 remaining on a layup by Zach Rineheart.
Ramirez capped an 8-1 spurt for SMWC with another 3-pointer to pull SMWC within 42-37.
Miller pulled SMWC within 45-41 with an emphatic alley-oop jam on the long pass from Aaron Collins.
J.R. Lumsden, who had nine points, converted in the lane to keep it 47-43.
After an offensive rebound, Rineheart hit a pair of free throws to start a 12-0 run that put the game away for IUK.
SMWC (6-11, 1-7 RSC) returns to action Thursday at West Virginia Tech.