Men’s Basketball leads for 24 minutes but falls short against Kansas City

St. Paul, Minn. – The St. Thomas Men's Basketball Team (8-15, 2-10) faced Kansas City (16-9, 9-4) for the second time in five days. The Tommies led for over 24 minutes of the game but fell by a score of 76-67 in a physical game in Schoenecker Arena.

"I'm really proud of how the guys competed tonight against an excellent UMKC team," said Head Coach Dr. Johnny Tauer. "I thought both teams brought a lot of energy. In a game of contrasting styles, it was back-and-forth for 35 minutes. The last five minutes, we didn't get enough easy baskets and we put them at the foul line too much. Overall, I'm very proud of our effort. I'm so appreciative of the great fan support. It was great to be back home and we look forward to seeing another outstanding crown on Thursday night."

Through the first 10 minutes of play, St. Thomas opened up 16-9 lead with just over 10 minutes played. The Purple's first 16 points came by way of two old-fashioned three-point plays, but the team did not connect on a tradition three pointer.

The Roos responded with a 7-0 run to cut the St. Thomas lead to 16-15, before a pair of free throws from senior G Riley Miller pushed the lead to 18-15. Kansas City responded with the game's first made three pointer by either team, which opend the flood gates for threes with the Purple making their next two three-point attempts pushing the lead to 24-20 with 6:08 to play in the first half.

Kansas City opened its first lead of the game with 3:15 to play in the first half, 28-27. The Roo lead short lived, Junior F Brooks Allen made driving layup, giving the lead back to the Tommies. St. Thomas took a 32-30 lead into intermission.

Grad student G Ryan Lindberg led the scoring efforts with a team-best 16 points in the first half, connecting on 6-of-8 of his shots from the field, including a 3-of-5 showing from deep. Miller added seven points in the first half.

As a team, St. Thomas connected on 44 percent (12-of-27) of its shots from the field and 36 percent (4-of-11) from behind the arc. The Roos committed 10 first-half penalties, but St. Thomas was only able to connect on 4-of-8 of its attempts from the charity stripe in the first 20 minutes of play. The Purple defense limited the Roos to a 42 percent shooting effort from the field, including a 14 percent (1-of-7) showing from deep.

Through the first eight minutes of the second half, the two teams exchanged blows with St. Thomas holding a 43-42 lead with 11:51 to play. Over the next nine minutes of game time, Kansas City went on a 24-16 run to open up a 66-59 lead with 2:17 to play, their largest lead of the game.

The Tommies battled through the final two minutes of the contest and a last-ditch effort by St. Thomas put the Roos at the free throw line where they were able to earn the 76-67 win.

Individually, Lindberg led the way with 19 points, connecting on 7-fo-10 shots from the field including 4-of-6 from behind the arc. Miller finished with 14 points on the night and senior G Anders Nelson rounded out the top scorers with 10 points.

As a team, St. Thomas connected on 40 percent (22-of-55) of its shots from the field, 28 percent (7-of-25) from behind the arc and hauled in 33 rebounds.

The Tommies return to action on Thursday as they host the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks in the second-of-three home games in a five-day span.

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Team Stats

Ryan Lindberg

Riley Miller

Anders Nelson

Burt Hedstrom

Players Mentioned

Brooks Allen

Ryan Lindberg

Riley Miller

Anders Nelson