Late first half run leads Men’s Basketball to win over St. Norbert

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- St. Thomas men's basketball was clicking on all cylinders Friday night as a 20-0 run in the first half led to a 102-54 win over St. Norbert at Schoenecker Arena. Ben Oosterbaan led the Tommies (3-1) with a career high 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting while Miles Barnstable reached 1,000 career collegiate points.

Oosterbaan scored 13 points in the first half while Barnstable scored all his 11 points over the opening 20 minutes, including his 1,000th career collegiate point at the 4:38 mark in the first half on an and-one conversion. Barnstable entered this season with 948 points scored at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

St. Thomas shot 59.0 percent overall (36-61), going over 58 percent in each half, and 48.4 percent from 3-point range (15-31) while sinking 15-of-17 free throws. In total, St. Thomas had five players with double digit scoring and four with at least five rebounds. The Tommies limited the Green Knights to 36.7 percent shooting (18-49) and 30.0 percent from beyond the arc (6-20), while the Purple won the battle on the boards, 37-25.

GAME RECAP
Drake Dobbs and Miles Barnstable started the game's scoring with a layup and 3-pointer for a quick 5-0 lead that was extended to seven, 13-6, less than five minutes into play. The Tommies began to separate further when Carter Bjerke took away a Green Knight pass and completed a give-and-go layup with Nolan Minessale, before adding another layup on the following offensive possession.

Ben Oosterbaan sank his second 3-pointer of the half to push the lead to double digits, 27-16, at the 8:15 mark. Two minutes later, Ryan Dufault and Dobbs put together back-to-back layups, including a score off a SNC turnover, to spark a run to control the game. St. Thomas went on a 20-0 run over a span of five minutes, converting 7-of-9 field goals and forcing six St. Norbert turnovers, to hold a 49-22 lead at halftime.

Kendall Blue put in a 3-point jumper, finishing the game 5-of-5 shooting overall and 2-of-2 from 3-point range, to start second half scoring and push the lead to 30 points. The 3-pointer was the start of a 22-7 run out of halftime as Blue scored 10 points during the run for a 71-29 lead six minutes in. Adam Tauer and Jermaine Coleman scored their first collegiate points, Tauer putting in a layup from Hayden Tibbits at the 8:10 mark and Coleman sinking a 3-pointer with 7:06 to play.

TOP TOMMIES

Ben Oosterbaan scored a career high 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting, topping his previous high of 14 set during the season opener against North Central. He added three 3-pointers and pulled down five rebounds with three steals.
Kendall Blue finished with 12 points on a perfect 5-of-5 shooting, including 2-of-2 from long range, while 10 of those points came during the opening six minutes of the second half. He also totaled five rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Drake Dobbs and Miles Barnstable each scored 11 points while Carter Bjerke chipped in 10 on 4-of-6 shooting, including 2-of-4 from 3-point range.

UP NEXT
St. Thomas hits the road Sunday, Nov. 17 to take on Arizona State at the Financial Desert Arena in Tempe, Ariz., with tip-off scheduled for 7 p.m. CT.

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Team Stats

Ben Oosterbaan

Kendall Blue

Drake Dobbs

Miles Barnstable

Players Mentioned

Miles Barnstable

Carter Bjerke

Kendall Blue

Jermaine Coleman

Drake Dobbs

Ryan Dufault

Nolan Minessale

Ben Oosterbaan

Adam Tauer

Hayden Tibbits