Young guns sparkle, lead Men's Hoops to 18th win

St. Paul, Minn. -- Freshmen Andrew Rohde, Ahjany Lee and Kendall Blue combined for 49 points, 21 boards and nine assists to lead Tommie Men's Basketball to Saturday night's 82-69 home victory over Western Illinois before 1,600-plus spectators at Schoenecker Arena.

Coach Johnny Tauer's Tommies (18-11 overall, 9-7 Summit) avenged a close January road loss at Western Illinois. They also reached 18 wins in season two of the Division I era, secured a spot in the top six of the Summit League standings, locked up a first-division league finish at fifth place or better, and improved to 12-2 on their home court. The Purple also avoid the No. 7-10 seed and No. 8-9 seed play-in game as a No. 6 or better seed for the 10-team March 3-7 conference tournament.

Rohde scored 19 of his game-high 26 points in the second half, including 8-of-8 made at the free throw line.

Lee contributed a career-best 11 rebounds and recorded his first college double double with 14 points and 11 boards off the bench. That helped the Toms claim a 16-5 edge in bench scoring.

Parker Bjorklund had 16 points and nine rebounds, and Riley Miller sank three treys and finished with 12 points. Blue chipped in nine points, five boards and four assists.

St. Thomas trailed 29-22 late in the first half, but five different players scored during a 14-0 run over the final 3:30 before halftime to produce a 36-29 lead at the break. The Toms made 20-of-23 free throws in the second half to hold off WIU's comeback bid.

Quinlan Bennett closed with 20 points and 12 rebounds for the Leathernecks (15-12, 8-8). WIU fell behind by 14 in the final 15:00. Western cut the deficit to seven points in the final 2:25, but never got closer.

Next Up

St. Thomas closes its regular season next Thursday and Saturday nights Feb. 23 and 25 with conference road games at North Dakota State and North Dakota.

Did You Know?

Miller, Bjorklund, Brooks Allen and Will Engels were honored in pre-game ceremonies on Senior Night.
St. Thomas' conference tournament play in Sioux Falls -- the first Division I postseason game -- will begin with a Sunday March 5 contest.
Picked for eighth place in the 2022-23 Summit League preseason poll, the Purple are currently tied for third place in the league with North Dakota State.
Senior Riley Miller now has made 187 treys so far in his two Division I seasons -- sixth most nationally in D-I in that span. He now has made 289 threes over his entire Tommie career including 58 D-III contests, eight shy of Bryan Schnettler's program record.
Miller broke the St. Thomas program record as he played in his 123rd game in a Tommie uniform. Teddy Archer held the D-III era record at 122, and Burt Hedstrom played in 121.

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Team Stats

Andrew Rohde

Parker Bjorklund

Ahjany Lee

Riley Miller

Players Mentioned

Brooks Allen

Parker Bjorklund

Kendall Blue

Will Engels

Burt Hedstrom

Ahjany Lee

Riley Miller

Andrew Rohde