Men's Basketball stymied by Western Illinois, 81-52, on the road

Macomb, Ill. - St. Thomas men's basketball (8-12, 2-6 Summit League) was stifled in a road contest at Western Illinois (13-8, 4-5 Summit League), 81-52, on Saturday.

After senior forward Parker Bjorklund scored the game's first points, the Leathernecks went on a 16-5 run over the next 7:42 of game time to open a 16-7 lead with 11:47 remaining in the first half. In that run, WIU hit seven of its 15 shot attempts including a pair a threes.

St. Thomas was unable to get anything to fall in the first half of action, connection on 33 percent (10-of-30) of its shots from the field and only 19 percent (3-of-16) from behind the arc in the first 20 minutes of the game. The Tommies trailed 45-26 heading into halftime.

Individually in the first half, senior G Anders Nelson led the team in scoring with seven points. Bjorklund added six points and senior G Riley Miller contributed three points and dished out three assists.

Through the first five minutes of the second half, WIU went on a 13-6 run opening a 57-32 lead with 14:38 remaining in the game. The Leathernecks would continue to stave off any potential Tommie runs, In the second half, the Toms shot 30.8 percent from the field and 25.0 percent from deep, while going 6-9 (66.7 percent) at the free throw line.

There was a wide discrepancy of points being scored in the paint between both teams, with Western Illinois amassing 48 points inside to St. Thomas' 16.

Will Engels found the bucket for St. Thomas twice, in limited playing time, while also tallying one rebound. Ben Nau and Dom Martinelli, both playing in reserve action, combined for 10 points and six rebounds.

The Tommies return to action on Thursday as they travel to Kansas City to face the Roos. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.

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Team Stats

Anders Nelson

Parker Bjorklund

Riley Miller

Ben Nau

Players Mentioned

Parker Bjorklund

Will Engels

Dom Martinelli

Riley Miller

Ben Nau

Anders Nelson