No. 9 Creighton pulls away late as Tommie Men’s Basketball falls, 72-60

Omaha, Neb. -- A veteran core and freshman spark set St. Thomas Men's Basketball up for a second-half lead Monday night before a 72-60 loss at No. 9 Creighton in front of an audience of 17,098 in Omaha, Neb.

"We're really proud of our guys. Creighton is one of the top programs in the country, Coach McDermott does an unbelievable job. There's 17,000 fans (here). Our guys joked after the game, and Brooks Allen (recalls) that two years ago he was sitting on the bench in our opening game at Hamline during the COVID season and he's not playing at all, and here he is playing 38 minutes tonight.

"All of our guys competed like champions. We got down 15 points in the first half, but I thought the way they battled back and played with poise was really impressive."

The first nine Tommie points were scored by the team's two graduate students and two seniors, the final of which was a driving layup by Brooks Allen to tie the game, 9-9. The Bluejays followed with a 17-2 run over six minutes to take a game-high lead of 15, 26-11.

Graduate student Riley Miller's second of three 3-pointers on the night began the Tommies' slow attack to pull within five points at halftime. It wasn't until 4:09 left in the first half that freshman Andrew Rohde scored his first collegiate basket and was the first underclassmen for St. Thomas to score against Creighton. Rohde's score was one of three before halftime, the final of which was a 3-pointer to bring the Purple within two, 37-35, just before halftime.

A 3-pointer from senior Will Engels and a layup from Miller immediately tied the game out of the break. Both teams began to heat up from beyond the arc as senior Brooks Allen gave the Tommies their first lead since early in the game on his second and final 3-pointer of the night.

The Tommies fell cold over the final 10 minutes of the game, making just one of their final 13 field goal attempts. The Bluejays used that to close the night on a 16-3 run to hold off the Tommies.

"We had a stretch in the second half where I don't think we executed well on offense, but a lot of that's a credit to Creighton," Tauer said. "To go 40 minutes against them with their size and their versatility there's a reason they are as good as they are. But I thought the way our guys competed and executed the game plan, that certainly makes me proud to be their coach."

Rohde led all Tommies with 15 points in his collegiate debut on 6-of-16 shooting from the field and 3-of-8 from 3-point range. He added three rebounds, two assists and one steal while Allen followed with 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting and 2-of-3 from beyond the arc. Miller finished with 13 points on 5-of-8 from the field and 3-of-6 from long range. Engels led the Tommies with nine rebounds, a career-high in NCAA DI.

The Tommies shot 41 percent from the field (24-58) and 41 percent from 3-point range (9-22). Creighton won the turnover battle, turning 14 St. Thomas turnovers into 16 points while CU turned the ball over just five times that led to five Tommie points.

St. Thomas comes back to St. Paul Friday, Nov. 11 to host their home opener against Chicago State. The Tommies and Cougars will tip-off at 7 p.m. from Schoenecker Arena.

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Team Stats

Andrew Rohde

Brooks Allen

Riley Miller

Parker Bjorklund