University of St. Thomas Athletics
Thursday, February 3
Kansas City, Mo.
7:00 p.m.
8-13,2-7Summit League
72
at
81
Kansas City
14-9,7-4Summit League
1
2
F
St. Thomas (MN)
41
31
72
Kansas City
42
39
81
Photo by: Ishmael Rodriguez
Men’s Basketball trailed by two points with less than a minute to play, but eventually fell to Kansas City
2/3/2022 9:32:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Kansas City, Mo. – The St. Thomas Men's Basketball Team (8-13, 2-7) found themselves down two points, 74-72 with 53 second to play before the Kansas City (14-9, 7-4) iced the game at the free throw line to earn the 81-72 win.
The Tommies raced out to a 14-6 lead with 14:33 to play in the opening half. With 9:00 to play in the first half, the Roos tied the game at 22-22 and took their first lead of the game 24 seconds later. Through the first 13 minutes of the game, the Purple only attempted one three-point shot.
Kansas City held its largest lead of the first half, 33-28 with 5:25 remaining in the first half, before St. Thomas responded with a 8-0 run to regain the lead, 36-33 with 3:04 remaining in the first half. The Roos took a 42-41 lead into intermission.
As a team, St. Thomas connected on 60 percent (15-of-25) of its shots from the field and connected on 1-of-3 shots from deep in the first half.
Individually, senior F Parker Bjorklund contributed 18 points and a team-high four rebounds in the opening 20 minutes, he connected on 7-of-8 shots from the field and all four attempts from the charity stripe. Senior G Anders Nelson added 11 points in the first half and dished out two assists.
With 16:03 to play in the contest, St. Thomas regained the lead, 47-46, with a layup from grad student G Burt Hedstrom. The two teams exchanged blows over the next eight minutes of game play – with 8:54 to play, Bjorklund nailed a turn around jumper, his 26th points of the game to give St. Thomas a 60-59 lead.
The Purple found themselves down 74-69 with less than a minute to play when Nelson nailed a huge three-point bucket to cut the Roo lead to 74-72 with 53 seconds to play. Unfortunately, that was as close as the Tommies would come as Kansas City sealed the game at the free throw line to earn the 81-72 victory.
As a team, St. Thomas connected on 51 percent (26-of-51) of its shots from the field, but only made 3-of-12 (25 percent) of its shots from behind the arc. The Purple went 2-of-9 from behind the arc in the second half after only attempting three first-half three pointers. St. Thomas connected on 17-of-19 (90 percent) of its shots from the free-throw line.
Bjorklund led the scoring for the Tommies with a career-high 26 points and a team-best 8 rebounds. He finished the game shooting 11-of-14 from the field and 4-of-6 from the charity stripe. Nelson contributed 23 points in the game and connected on all seven of his free-throw attempts.
The Tommies return to action on Saturday as they complete their four-game road stand at Oral Roberts, tip-off is slated for 7:00 p.m.
The Tommies raced out to a 14-6 lead with 14:33 to play in the opening half. With 9:00 to play in the first half, the Roos tied the game at 22-22 and took their first lead of the game 24 seconds later. Through the first 13 minutes of the game, the Purple only attempted one three-point shot.
Kansas City held its largest lead of the first half, 33-28 with 5:25 remaining in the first half, before St. Thomas responded with a 8-0 run to regain the lead, 36-33 with 3:04 remaining in the first half. The Roos took a 42-41 lead into intermission.
As a team, St. Thomas connected on 60 percent (15-of-25) of its shots from the field and connected on 1-of-3 shots from deep in the first half.
Individually, senior F Parker Bjorklund contributed 18 points and a team-high four rebounds in the opening 20 minutes, he connected on 7-of-8 shots from the field and all four attempts from the charity stripe. Senior G Anders Nelson added 11 points in the first half and dished out two assists.
With 16:03 to play in the contest, St. Thomas regained the lead, 47-46, with a layup from grad student G Burt Hedstrom. The two teams exchanged blows over the next eight minutes of game play – with 8:54 to play, Bjorklund nailed a turn around jumper, his 26th points of the game to give St. Thomas a 60-59 lead.
The Purple found themselves down 74-69 with less than a minute to play when Nelson nailed a huge three-point bucket to cut the Roo lead to 74-72 with 53 seconds to play. Unfortunately, that was as close as the Tommies would come as Kansas City sealed the game at the free throw line to earn the 81-72 victory.
As a team, St. Thomas connected on 51 percent (26-of-51) of its shots from the field, but only made 3-of-12 (25 percent) of its shots from behind the arc. The Purple went 2-of-9 from behind the arc in the second half after only attempting three first-half three pointers. St. Thomas connected on 17-of-19 (90 percent) of its shots from the free-throw line.
Bjorklund led the scoring for the Tommies with a career-high 26 points and a team-best 8 rebounds. He finished the game shooting 11-of-14 from the field and 4-of-6 from the charity stripe. Nelson contributed 23 points in the game and connected on all seven of his free-throw attempts.
The Tommies return to action on Saturday as they complete their four-game road stand at Oral Roberts, tip-off is slated for 7:00 p.m.
Team Stats
UST
KC
FG%
.510
.492
3FG%
.250
.563
FT%
.895
.800
RB
24
34
TO
13
12
STL
4
5
Game Leaders
Pts
26
FGM
11
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Pts
23
FGM
7
3FGM
2
FTM
7
Pts
7
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
7
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
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