Men’s Basketball welcomes in Crown College Saturday for second meeting ever

St. Paul, Minn. -- St. Thomas Men's Basketball is set to host Crown College Saturday, Dec. 3 at Schoenecker Arena, the second matchup against an NCAA Division III opponent this week. The Tommies and Polars meet for the second time ever with tip-off scheduled for 7 p.m.

Tommie Watch
St. Thomas bounced back from its third loss of the season with an 111-63 win over North Central (Minn.) on Tuesday, Nov. 29 at Schoenecker Arena.

A group of six Tommies scored in double figures, led by Ryan Dufault, Dom Martinelli and Ben Nau with career highs in scoring to move the Purple to 6-3 on the season.

Dufault led the team in scoring with 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting and also paced the squad with a career-best nine assists. Martinelli followed with 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting with four rebounds while Nau totaled 15 points with three 3-pointers.

The scoring attack began early as the Tommies started 4-of-4 from the field, highlighted by a fast break dunk by Andrew Rohde, who finished with 13 points. Riley Miller knocked down his only 3-pointer of the game to give the Purple a 9-2 lead, which was pushed to 10 points two minutes later on Courtney Brown, Jr.'s second basket of the night.

A 22-4 run gave the Tommies a 26-point, 37-11 advantage before going into halftime with a 61-32 lead. The Tommies knocked down 71.0 percent from the field (22-31) with 36 points in the paint through the first half before shooting 52.5 percent (21-40) with 28 points in the paint and 15 second-chance points in the second half.

Series History
St. Thomas and Crown will meet for the second time in program history. The Tommies took a 73-53 win over the Polars during their lone meeting Dec. 2, 2021 in St. Paul.

Riley Miller led St. Thomas with 22 points on 7-of-13 shooting, all behind the 3-point line. He tied for the team lead with six rebounds as Will Engels scored 11 points with six rebounds.

Scouting Crown
The Polars are 7-1 overall and will count Saturday's contest against the Tommies as an exhibition. Crown comes off a 64-61 win over Macalester on Wednesday, Nov. 30 at home in St. Bonifacius, Minn.

Cade Carroll leads the team with 26.5 points and 8.0 rebounds per game in four games played this season. He recorded back-to-back outings with at least 32 points Nov. 11 versus Concordia (Minn.) (37 points) and Nov. 12 versus Trinity Bible (N.D.) (32 points). Seth Royston follows with 17.4 points per game on 58.2 percent shooting and records 5.6 rebounds per game.

Crown averages 83.0 points per game on 47.2 percent shooting from the field and 34.1 percent from 3-point range. The Polars rank 27th in NCAA D-III with 18.2 assists per game and 34th with a 1.36 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Above .500
The Tommies have shot above 50 percent from the field in each of their six wins this season. In addition, the Purple shot exactly 42.9 percent from 3-point range in wins over Chicago State, St. Francis Brooklyn, and Troy. St. Thomas has hit at least 50 percent from the field and 40 percent from 3-point range during four of the last five games.

St. Thomas has totaled five games shooting at least 50 percent from the floor this season after recording six such games last season. The Tommies were 5-1 in those games last season.

The Tommies are tied for 44th in the country shooting 48.8 percent from the field this season.

From the Parking Lot
St. Thomas' 3-point shooting has been on display in recent years, and this season is no different. The Tommies sank 17 3-point field goals against Merrimack on Nov. 19, totaling the Warriors' rebound total in the game.

The St. Thomas program record for 3-pointers in a game was 15 from 1992-2018. Since 2018, the Tommies have made at least 17 3-pointers in a game on 16 occasions. The current program record is 22, set twice during the 2021-22 season against Northland and North Central.

St. Thomas hit 10 3-pointers against North Central Nov. 29, marking the fourth instance of double-digit long balls over the last five games.

The Tommies are currently tied for 40th nationally with 9.5 3-pointers per game.

Head in the Clouds
St. Thomas played four of a five game stretch at high altitude, three at the Zootown Classic (Nov. 17-19) in Missoula Mont, (3,209') and Nov. 26 at Utah (4,226'). After a two-game homestand Nov. 29 and Dec. 3, St. Thomas will close its non-conference road schedule at even higher elevation. The Purple will play Montana State Dec. 8 in Bozeman, Mont., (4,793') and Idaho State Dec. 10 in Pocatello, Idaho (4,462'). As part of the Summit League schedule, St. Thomas will also travel to Denver, Colo., Feb. 4 to take on Denver at its highest elevation (5,279').

Reaching the Peak for the First Time
Riley Miller became the first Tommie to earn the TicketSmarter Summit League Peak Performer of the Week on Nov. 21 following his performance at the Zootown Classic.

Zootown Classic
Riley Miller led St. Thomas with 16.7 points per game on 43.3 percent shooting from the field (13-30) and 46.4 percent from 3-point range (13-28). He also went a perfect 11-of-11 from the free throw line while playing 32.2 minutes per game.

Andrew Rohde's performance at the Zootown Classic was highlighted by the game-winning basket to lift St. Thomas over Troy. He tied Miller for a team-high 16 points against the Trojans, including shooting 7-of-7 from the free throw line, with three 3-pointers, two assists and one block.

Miller and Rohde were both selected to the Zootown Classic All-Tournament Team.

Parker Bjorklund totaled 10.3 points per game on 58.3 percent shooting (14-24). Kendall Blue led the bench with 9.7 points and 3.7 rebounds per game. He scored 10 points against Montana and Troy before adding nine against Merrimack.

The 38th Member of the Club
Riley Miller entered the 2022-23 season 27 points shy of 1,000 for his career. After scoring 13 points against No. 9 Creighton in the season opener, he scored 15 against Chicago State to hit the milestone. He became the 38th Tommie all-time to reach the mark, sinking the first of two free throws with 10:22 to play against the Cougars.

Miller began his Tommie career with 145 points as a freshman and 247 as a sophomore before further increasing his scoring average with 133 points in just seven games during the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season. Miller totaled nearly half of his career scoring total last season with 448 points while 702 of his career total have come behind the 3-point line.

Miller is the first Tommie to reach 1,000 career points since guard Anders Nelson during the 2020-21 season.

The 3-Point Veteran
Riley Miller surpassed 100 made 3-pointers last season and is at 234 made on his 103-game career. He made 103 treys as he converted 41 percent behind the arc last season. Miller was one of just four D-I shooters to make 100 or more threes and convert at 40 percent or better behind the arc.

His nine 3-pointers against Merrimack this season set a new career-high and was one shy of tying the program single-game record, set by Curt Kietzer with 10 in 1987.

Miller leads the Summit League and ranks tied for 13th in the nation with 3.5 3-point field goals per game. He's also second in the league and tied for 38th in the country shooting 47.5 percent from long range and is sixth with 13.6 points per game.

Freshmen Leading the Way
Andrew Rohde has led the Tommies in scoring during four of nine games this season and leads the team scoring 13.2 points per game, which also ranks 11th in the Summit League. He has a team-high 48 field goals made and 3.7 assists per game.

Rohde scored 20 points in the Nov. 13 win over St. Francis Brooklyn, becoming the first Tommie freshman to score at least 20 points in a game since Anders Nelson recorded six games with at least 20 points in 2018-19.

Kendall Blue leads the bench with 8.6 points per game on 48.2 percent shooting (27-56). He has scored double-digit points in five of the last seven games, including a career-high 15 against St. Francis Brooklyn. Blue made his first career start Nov. 29 versus North Central.

Ahjany Lee has made three starts this season, averaging 5.1 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. He's shooting 45.0 percent from the field and leads the team with six blocks.

NCAA DI Recruiting Class: Part Two
After bringing in Ben Nau and Ryan Dufault during the 2021 Tommie Signing Class, the 2022 class was bumped up to four with the additions of Carter Bjerke (6-9, F), Kendall Blue (6-6, G), Ahjany Lee (6-9, F) and Andrew Rohde (6-6, G).

The 2022 class was ranked number 52 of 368 schools according to Rivals.com. Additionally, only three of the top 50 ranked classes were mid-major schools.

Opponents Across the Country
St. Thomas will face programs from across eight conferences, outside of the Summit League: Big East (Creighton), Big Sky (Montana, Montana State), Horizon (Milwaukee, Green Bay), NEC (St. Francis Brooklyn, Merrimack), Pac 12 (Utah), Sun Belt (Troy), UMAC (Crown, North Central), WAC (Chicago State).

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Men’s Basketball welcomes in Crown College Saturday for second meeting ever

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Players Mentioned

Carter Bjerke

Parker Bjorklund

Kendall Blue

Courtney Brown, Jr.

Ryan Dufault

Will Engels

Ahjany Lee

Dom Martinelli

Riley Miller

Ben Nau

Anders Nelson

Andrew Rohde

University of St. Thomas Athletics