Second half surge helps Tommies claw past Cougars, 66-50

CHICAGO – A second half surge led by graduate student Brooks Allen and junior Ben Nau lifted St. Thomas men's basketball to a 66-50 win against Chicago State in Chicago. Allen and Nau scored 17 points each as the Tommies improve to 6-4 overall behind their third straight win.

Allen tied a season high in scoring on 6-of-10 shooting, including 4-of-6 on 3-pointers, for his second straight double-digit game while Nau set a career high off the bench on 6-of-8 shooting and 5-of-7 from behind the arc. The duo combined to make nine of the team's 13 3-pointers. Graduate student Raheem Anthony led the Purple with eight assists, along with three turnovers, and also paced the team with five rebounds.

St. Thomas shot 46.2 percent overall and 41.9 percent on 3-pointers compared to 38.8 percent from the field and 27.8 percent from long range for Chicago State. Despite the Cougars applying full-court pressure at times, the Tommies only gave away 11 turnovers and scored 17 points off 14 CSU turnovers.

Recap
The Tommies broke a 10-10 tie midway through the first half behind three straight 3-pointers from freshman Carter Bjerke, senior Dom Martinelli, and Allen. Nau led all Tommies with nine points in the first half, all of which came from behind the arc. His final 3-pointer of the half kept the Tommie lead at six, 27-21, while the Cougars cut the lead to five at halftime, 30-25.

Graduate student Parker Bjorklund connected on a floater from the baseline to open the second half before sophomore Kendall Blue hit a 3-pointer to push the lead to a game-high eight points, 37-29, with 14:39 to play. Following traded baskets, Chicago State went on an 11-4 run to pull within one, 43-42.

Nau connected on his fourth 3-pointer to snap CSU's run and joined Allen to score 14 of the next 15 points for St. Thomas. A 9-3 run for the Purple pushed the lead back to seven that was extended to double digits just under four minutes later. The Tommies closed out the game on a 23-8 run led by 11 points from Allen. He connected on two of the team's five 3-pointers over that span to extend its winning streak to three.

Top Tommies

Graduate student Brooks Allen and junior Ben Nau scored 17 points each to lead the Tommies. Allen went 6-of-10 from the field and 4-of-6 from 3-point range to tie a season high in points while he added four rebounds. Nau came off the bench to score a career high on 6-of-8 shooting and 5-of-7 from long range. He made multiple 3-pointers for the fifth time this season and the fourth time over the last six, while 14 of his 18 field goals this season have come from long range.
Graduate student Raheem Anthony led all players with eight assists, with three turnovers, and led the Tommies with five rebounds, his third straight game leading the Toms in the category.
Sophomore Kendall Blue scored seven points with one 3-pointer and added four rebounds, a team high two steals, and one assist.

Quotables
Head Coach Johnny Tauer on facing Chicago State for the third time in as many years at the Division I level:
"I'm really proud of our guys. I have a ton of respect for Chicago State in the job they do. They don't have a conference, they travel all over the country, and play an incredibly tough schedule. And this is the third year. I talked about it before the game, to get to come back here at almost two years after our first Division I game and some of it is a marker of how much we've progressed.

Chicago State did a lot of things that are really impressive, how they pressured the ball. They've got really athletic guys who are tough on defense. I thought our guys withstood the pressure to only have 11 turnovers against them. I thought we did a really good job of taking care of the ball. I am very, very proud of our guys and how they competed."

Up Next
St. Thomas' next test comes Thursday, Dec. 14 as it prepares to play No. 8 Marquette in Milwaukee, Wis. The Tommies and Golden Eagles will meet for the 12th time in the series and first since Nov. 30, 1977 when Marquette was defending its national championship title.

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Team Stats

Ben Nau

Brooks Allen

Kendall Blue

Drake Dobbs

Players Mentioned

Brooks Allen

Raheem Anthony

Carter Bjerke

Parker Bjorklund

Kendall Blue

Dom Martinelli

Ben Nau