Blue, Dobbs and Lee combine for 49 points in 87-76 win at Oral Roberts

TULSA, Okla. -- An early first half run set the pace for St. Thomas men's basketball Saturday night during an 87-76 win at Oral Roberts. The trio of Kendall Blue, Drake Dobbs and Ahjany Lee combined for 49 points as the Tommies improve to 13-6 overall and 3-1 in the Summit League.

St. Thomas continued its 3-point attack, going 11-of-31 from beyond the arc as a team, and shot 52.6 percent from the field to snap Oral Roberts' 10-game home winning streak in Summit League play. The Tommies gave away just five turnovers, their third game with five or fewer turnovers this season, while the bench chipped in 31 points.

After winning 21 consecutive home games since the start of the 2022-23 season, St. Thomas handed Oral Roberts its second loss at Mabee Center over the last three overall. The Golden Eagles shot 45.9 percent from the floor with six 3-pointers and totaled just seven assists on 28 field goals.

Dobbs led all Tommies with 17 points, including 5-of-6 from the free throw line, along with five rebounds, three assists, two steals and one turnover. Blue and Lee each finished with 16 points, seven rebounds, two assists and one block, respectively. Blue has now scored double digits in six straight games, the longest streak by a Tommie this season. The trio, along with graduate student Parker Bjorklund with 10 points, combined for 59 points on 59.4 percent shooting.

RECAP
The Golden Eagles started perfect from the field over the first four minutes of play, shooting 5-of-5 overall with two 3-pointers to take a 12-4 lead. Dobbs answered with his first of two 3-pointers to spark a 14-2 run for the Purple, limiting ORU to 1-of-8 from the field with two turnovers. Five Tommies scored during the run to grab an 18-14 lead midway through the half.

Both teams traded scores over the next 15 baskets, though 3-pointers from sophomore Kendall Blue, sophomore Ahjany Lee and freshman Carter Bjerke allowed the Tommies to extend the lead to seven, 33-26. Free throws from Blue and graduate student Parker Bjorklund began another run for the Purple, this time of 11-2 to end the half. St. Thomas turned a late ORU turnover into points just before a last-second 3-pointer from graduate student Raheem Anthony gave the Toms a 46-33 lead into halftime.

Bjorklund scored the opening basket of the second half before a quick 5-0 run by ORU brought the Tommie lead to 10, 48-38. As a trend through the second half, Dobbs had an answer to shut down the Oral Roberts' run with his final 3-pointer of the game. The next two St. Thomas baskets also came from long range via Lee and Bjerke, the second of which pushed the lead to a game-high 15, 57-42, six minutes into play.

Oral Roberts cut the lead to seven points twice, lastly at the 4:28 mark to trail, 72-65, on an and-one opportunity. ORU missed the ensuing free throw while a technical foul allowed St. Thomas to pick up an extra point. Blue added his second 3-pointer of the game on the next possession as part of an 11-2 run to seal the win.

TOP TOMMIES

Dobbs led all Tommies with 17 points, including 5-of-6 from the free throw line, along with a season high five rebounds, three assists, two steals and one turnover. It's the third game Dobbs has led the Tommies in scoring this season, going 2-1 in those games.
Blue and Lee each finished with 16 points, seven rebounds, two assists and one block, respectively. Blue has now scored double digits in six straight games, the longest streak by a Tommie this season. He has at least 10 points and 4 rebounds in five of the past six games. Blue has now led the Tommies in rebounds four times this season while Lee has led three times.
Graduate student Parker Bjorklund was the fourth Tommie with double digit scoring as he finished with 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting. He's now reached at least 10 points in 24 of the last 29 games.
Graduate student Raheem Anthony and freshman Carter Bjerke chipped in eight points, as both knocked down two 3-pointers. Anthony set a season high with three steals.

QUOTEABLES
Head Coach Johnny Tauer following the program's first win over Oral Roberts:
"it's certainly a special win. A ton of respect to Oral Roberts and their program, what they've done. What I'm most proud about our team, sometimes people like to talk about bounce back wins and how are we going to respond, and we never talked about bouncing back. It was just about being ourselves and I love the way we played the last six weeks. I keep saying that. I love the way we grow.

"We knew this challenge. Our guys did a really good job of compartmentalizing, the learning from last game and we had a long film session and there was a ton of good stuff from that. Then to come in here on the road against an incredibly talented and well-coached team and we got off to a 10-2 deficit. That to me really shows some of the metal of this team that they trusted one another. They didn't go away from the game plan and we got better defensively. We didn't shoot great from the 3-point line, we didn't shoot great from the free throw line, but we only had five turnovers and I thought our toughness and our togetherness was really the difference."

UP NEXT
St. Thomas remains on the road for a one-game week Thursday, Jan. 18 at South Dakota. After Saturday's win at Oral Roberts, South Dakota is the only Summit League team St. Thomas has not beaten since joining the conference.

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Team Stats

Drake Dobbs

Kendall Blue

Ahjany Lee

Parker Bjorklund

Players Mentioned

Raheem Anthony

Carter Bjerke

Parker Bjorklund

Kendall Blue

Drake Dobbs

Ahjany Lee