Toms overcome 10-point deficit, fall short to Lancers, 66-62

RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- St. Thomas men's basketball overcame a double digit deficit Saturday night but fell just short to California Baptist, 66-62, at the Fowler Events Center in Riverside, Calif.

Graduate student Parker Bjorklund led the Purple with 17 points, including a team-high three 3-pointers, and added six rebounds while senior Drake Dobbs followed in scoring with 10 points, eight in the second half.

The Tommies tied a season low with eight turnovers but were outrebounded, 38-34, and were outshot by the Lancers from the 3-point line, 47 percent (7-15) to 30 percent (7-23).

Recap
A layup from senior Drake Dobbs put the Tommies on the board with 18:24 in the first half, trailing the Lancers 8-2, while a layup from graduate student Brooks Allen started a strong run of field goals for the Purple. The Toms knocked down four of their next five field goals, including baskets from Allen, redshirt freshman Carter Bjerke, graduate student Raheem Anthony and sophomore Kendall Blue, to pull within three, 13-10.

Despite a size difference between the Tommies and Lancers, St. Thomas found success in the paint through the first half, led by Bjorklund who converted back-to-back layups to cut the deficit to two, 16-14, just before the under 12-minute media timeout. The Lancers answered with seven straight points and extended the lead to double digits, 25-15, with 8:31 in the first half.

Sophomore Ahjany Lee continued to score in the lane for the Toms, who finished with 22 points in the paint compared to 20 for the Lancers over the first 20 minutes, while layups from Anthony and Bjorklund allowed the Purple to close the first half on a 6-2 run with a 36-31 deficit.

Bjorklund reached double-digit scoring for the 14th time over the last 15 games on the squad's first basket of the second half, cutting CBU's lead to three, 36-33. The Toms held the Lancers to just one field goal on its first five attempts, a 3-pointer 1:45 into the second half, but saw its offense go just 1-of-10 from the floor with two turnovers given away. Dobbs and Blue combined to hit five free throws before Bjorklund helped snap the cold streak from the floor with a 3-pointer to bring the Toms within five, 46-41, with 12:20 to play.

The Tommies hammered the long range game through the middle of the second half as nine of its 10 field goal attempts between 14:12-6:46 were from beyond the arc. Lee followed Bjorklund's lead and sank his second 3-pointer of the season at the 10-minute mark. He came up with a block on the ensuing defensive possession, ahead of another block by Dobbs, that set up a 3-pointer from junior Ben Nau to grab the Tommies' first lead of the night, 47-46, and force a CBU timeout.

Following Nau's first 3-pointer since the season opener, the Purple struggled from the floor going 0-of-5 shooting and 0-of-3 from the free throw line over a span of nearly five minutes, allowing CBU to retake the lead, 53-47.

Anthony snapped a 7-0 run by the Lancers with a layup at the 4:28 mark but back-to-back 3-pointers sparked an 8-0 run by the Lancers to take control of the game with a 12-point, 61-49 lead. Nau put in his second 3-pointer of the game with 27 seconds left to draw the deficit back to single digits while two missed CBU free throws set up another 3-pointer from Bjorklund to bring the game to within five, 64-59.

Top Tommies
-Parker Bjorklund led all Tommie scorers with 17 points on 7-of-16 shooting, including 3-of-7 from 3-point range, and also tied for the team lead with six rebounds. The Toms fall to 14-16 all-time when Bjorklund leads in rebounds.
-Drake Dobbs followed in scoring with 10 points, his second career game in the Purple with at least 10, including eight in the second half. He went a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line.
-Raheem Anthony finished with eight points on 4-of-8 shooting, finishing among the top three scorers for the Toms and shooting at least 50 percent from the floor in each of the last three games.
-Ahjany Lee tied a season high eight points on 3-of-4 shooting and tied for the team lead with six rebounds. He led the team in rebounds for the 11th time in his career as the Purple fall to 6-5 in those games. Lee added two blocks and now has two in three of five games this season.

Quotables
Head Coach Johnny Tauer following Saturday's loss against California Baptist:
"We're really excited about the journey of the season. We play good teams for a reason, and this is a wonderful event. We're going to turn around and see an equally tough Portland State team tomorrow.

"I feel great about our team. I mean, every year kind of has its ebbs and flows and I think certainly we're not thrilled with a couple of the close losses we've had, but at the same time, these are really good teams that we're going toe-to-toe with on their home court."

Next Up
St. Thomas wraps up The Lancer Joust Sunday, Nov. 19 at 4:30 p.m. against Portland State. The Tommies and Vikings will meet for the first time ever from the Dale E. and Sarah Ann Fowler Event Center in Riverside.

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-- St. Thomas Athletics --

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Team Stats

Parker Bjorklund

Drake Dobbs

Ahjany Lee

Raheem Anthony

Players Mentioned

Brooks Allen

Raheem Anthony

Carter Bjerke

Parker Bjorklund

Kendall Blue

Drake Dobbs

Ahjany Lee

Ben Nau