St. Thomas defense sets tone in 104-51 win against River Falls

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- St. Thomas men's basketball came ready to play Thursday evening as the Tommies took down the UW-River Falls Falcons, 104-51, moving to 8-5 on the season. The Toms' recorded their largest win of the season by a 53-point margin behind a balanced scoring effort that included nine student-athletes with at least eight points.

St. Thomas men's basketball set a season record in points, converting on 41-of-72 field goals (56.9 percent), shooting 14-of-28 (50 percent) from beyond the arc and 8-of-9 (88.9 percent) from the charity stripe, marking their largest victory since Dec. 14, 2021, a 59-point win over Northland College. The 51 points scored by the River Falls is tied for the lowest number of points scored against the Tommies this season, with the Toms defense holding Western Michigan to 51 points in a contest earlier this year.

It was a well-balanced effort from St. Thomas as five Toms scored in double figures. Sophomore Ahjany Lee led the way with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including a perfect 2-of-2 from beyond the arc while grabbing five rebounds, two steals, and one block. Junior Ryan Dufault continued his hot streak as he recorded 13 points going 6-of-8 from the field, grabbing five rebounds, and dishing out a team-high seven assists. The trio of Brooks Allen, Parker Bjorklund, and Carter Bjerke all scored 11 points apiece for the Tommies shooting a combined 12-of-20 from the floor, including an efficient 8-of-12 from downtown in the victory.

RECAP
St. Thomas jumped out of the gate Thursday evening shooting lights out, making 10 of its first 11 shots, to guide the Toms to an early 24-11 lead eight minutes into the ball game. Over the course of the next five minutes, the Tommies went on a 8-0 run, credited to baskets by Bjorklund and Allen, and a layup by Dufault. St. Thomas ended the half strong due to 3-pointers from Bjorklund, junior Ben Nau, and two baskets by senior Courtney Brown Jr., to propel the Toms to a 51-17 lead heading into the halftime break.

It was all Toms again in the second half as Allen got the scoring going, scoring six of the first nine Tommie points of the half, up 60-25 with 15 minutes left to play. St. Thomas then proceeded to go on their largest scoring run of the game over the course of the next five minutes, going on a 15-0 run led by senior Dom Martinelli, sophomore Kendall Blue, and Lee. Dufault then went on a personal 4-0 scoring run, bringing the Toms up 82-32 with eight minutes remaining.

The Toms' held the Falcons to 2-of-20 from beyond the arc and 9-of-16 from the free throw line and won the rebound battle 40-24 against UW-River Falls. The Toms won the turnover margin, only giving up five turnovers compared to the Falcons 18. Of the Purple's 104 points, 68 came from the bench which is the second most for the program in the NCAA Division I era.

TOP TOMMIES

Sophomore Ahjany Lee led the way in scoring, tallying 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting including a perfect 2-of-2 from beyond the arc while grabbing five rebounds, two steals, and one block.
Junior Ryan Dufault continued his hot streak as he recorded 13 points going 6-of-8 from the field, grabbing five rebounds, and dishing out a team-high seven assists.
The trio of Brooks Allen, Parker Bjorklund, and Carter Bjerke all scored 11 points apiece for the Tommies shooting a combined 12-of-20 from the floor, including an efficient 8-of-12 from downtown.
Four other Toms (Blue, Martinelli, Brown Jr., Kwiecinski) scored over eight points in the victory, while combining for nine rebounds and eight assists.

QUOTEABLES
Head Coach Johnny Tauer on the Tommies' defensive effort during Thursday night's win:
"It was a fun night. Really high energy defensively. I thought we were balanced on offense, but stole some things early on with our pressure. River Falls has some really good kids who can score and we did a good job of taking that away. Coming into the game, we had some guys pretty banged up and so I was concerned with their offense, just how we were going to navigate some of their actions.

"Our guys really set the tone, that first group, defensively, and that really got us going. It's so much easier when you bring energy on defense and you're able to take people out of what they want to do when you get your transition game going. We ended up with 29 assists and five turnovers, but honestly, a lot of that was a function of our defense and our ability to get out and run, whether it was off turnovers or rebounds."

UP NEXT
The Tommies will enjoy a week-long holiday break before travelling to Grand Forks, N.D., to take on the North Dakota Fighting Hawks on Friday, December 29th. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT as the Toms open up Summit League conference play.

FOLLOW ALONG
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Team Stats

Ahjany Lee

Ryan Dufault

Brooks Allen

Parker Bjorklund

Players Mentioned

Brooks Allen

Carter Bjerke

Parker Bjorklund

Kendall Blue

Ryan Dufault

Ahjany Lee

Dom Martinelli

Ben Nau