Bjorklund's 25 points power Tommies past Polars

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Graduate student Parker Bjorklund powered a gritty win by St. Thomas men's basketball Sunday afternoon, defeating Crown College 85-66 at Schoenecker Arena in St. Paul.

Bjorklund scored a season high 25 on 8-of-12 shooting while sinking 9-of-10 free throws. He also recorded five rebounds, two assists, one block, and three steals in an all-around performance. Two other Tommies finished in double figures as junior Ryan Dufault and senior Drake Dobbs both eclipsed the 10-point mark in the contest. Dufault also recorded a season high in scoring, adding 18 points on an efficient 7-of-9 shooting along with four rebounds and four assists off the bench. Dobbs added 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting including 2-of-3 from beyond the arc, along with four assists and no turnovers.

St. Thomas scored 48 of its 85 points in the paint and added 19 points on the fast break. The Tommies shot 51.6 percent (32-62) from the field, its second straight game over 50 percent and its third-best shooting performance of the season, and limited the Polars to 40.7 percent shooting (24-59).

RECAP
In the opening stretch, graduate student Brooks Allen and the Polars traded buckets in the first three minutes, as Allen scored all five of the Tommie points to bring the game tied at 5 apiece. St. Thomas and Crown battled back and forth for much of the first 12 minutes as the two teams saw themselves knotted at 19-19 with 7:29 left in the first half. A three pointer by Allen, followed by back-to-back dunks from Bjorklund, and the Toms found themselves up 26-21 with 6:10 left in the half. St. Thomas ended the half on a 6-0 led by sophomores Kendall Blue and Ahjany Lee, with the Toms leading 34-26 at the halftime break.

Crown stormed out of the gates in the second half making four of their first five attempts cutting down the Tommie lead to just one point in the opening three minutes. The second half scoring efforts were led by Dufault and Bjorklund as they scored 10 of the next 12 points for the Toms' and opened the lead up to nine points, 51-42. The two teams traded baskets over the course five minutes bringing the score to 63-54 with 7:43 remaining.

The rest of the game was all Dufault as he halted a Crown comeback scoring six straight points for the Tommies, before a 3-pointer by Dobbs opened the lead to 75-63 with three minutes left. Back-to-back three pointers by junior Ben Nau put the icing on the cake for the Toms, as they took the victory over the Polars 85-66 on Sunday afternoon.

TOP TOMMIES

Graduate student Parker Bjorklund set a season high 25 points, a season high among all Tommies, on 8-of-12 shooting overall and 9-of-10 from the free throw line. He also recorded five rebounds, two assists, one block, and three steals in an all-around performance.
Junior Ryan Dufault recorded his season high in points as well as with 18 on an efficient 7-of-9 shooting along with four rebounds and four assists.
Kendall Blue had a near double-double as the sophomore tallied eight points and nine rebounds in the winning effort. Nine rebounds is now Blue's career high, with the sophomore crashing the glass for eight rebounds against Western Illinois last season in the Summit League Conference Tournament.
Senior Drake Dobbs contributed 12 points in the Tommie victory on 4-of-8 shooting, including 2-of-3 from beyond the arc.

QUOTEABLES
Head Coach Johnny Tauer
"Give credit to Crown College. They're a really well coached team. They played hard, smart and together, and I thought they did some things on offense, in terms of spacing that made us guard one-on-one. And they got some kids who can really shoot it.(Cade) Carroll and (Jacob) Van Dam, both are really prolific scorers.

"I didn't think we moved the ball well and certainly we didn't shoot it great throughout the course of the game and that was an issue. But I do like our guys' resilience, and they believed. Ryan Dufault off the bench played was a great spark. Drake Dobbs again on defense is just really, really good. The two of them had 30 points, 8 assists and 0 turnovers combined. And then Parker (Bjorklund) was a horse inside. He really did today what you want a veteran to do, what the game required of him. Today was a day he had to be really, really strong down low. That's what you need out a veteran. Pleased to get a win and appreciate everybody who came out today."

UP NEXT
The Tommies will continue their homestand at Schoenecker Arena to face off against the UW River-Falls Falcons. The game will tip off at 7 p.m. CT on Thursday, Dec. 21 In St. Paul.

FOLLOW ALONG
For more information on St. Thomas Men's Basketball, follow along on X (formerly Twitter) at @TommieMBBall and on Instagram at @TommieHoops.

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-- St. Thomas Athletics --

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Team Stats

Parker Bjorklund

Ryan Dufault

Drake Dobbs

Kendall Blue

Players Mentioned

Brooks Allen

Parker Bjorklund

Kendall Blue

Drake Dobbs

Ryan Dufault

Ahjany Lee

Ben Nau