Sun Devils separate late in Men’s Basketball loss, 81-66

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Halftime adjustments set St. Thomas men's basketball up for success Sunday night at Arizona State but the Big 12 Sun Devils separated late to win, 81-66, at Desert Financial Arena. The Tommies (3-2) cut a 10-point halftime deficit to three with eight minutes to play before the big-bodied Sun Devils (4-1) went on an 11-0 scoring run to take control.

The Tommies led by as many as six points in the first half but allowed the Sun Devils to pull down nine offensive rebounds over the opening 20 minutes and gave away seven turnovers. St. Thomas gave way just three turnovers and allowed two offensive rebounds in the second half, ultimately outscoring Arizona State 16-5 on second-chance points. ASU went 18-of-26 from the free throw line compared to 3-of-5 for St. Thomas.

Miles Barnstable led the Purple with 12 points with three 3-pointers while Kendall Blue followed with 11 points and a team-high four assists, tied with Ryan Dufault off the bench. Nolan Minessale paced the team with five rebounds to go along with six points, three turnovers and two assists.

GAME RECAP
A 3-pointer by Carter Bjerke started scoring at Desert Financial Arena while Miles Barnstable followed just over one minute later with a 3-pointer to push the early lead to four, 6-2. The Sun Devils went on a 9-0 run to grab their first lead but just before Barnstable's second 3-pointer began a 6-0 spark for the Tommies to nab the lead back. In total, the teams traded leads five times over the first 20 minutes.

Kendall Blue scored four of his six first half points during a run that pushed the St. Thomas lead to a first-half high six, 19-13, with 11:13 in the half. The Purple missed its next four field goals and gave away three turnovers that allowed ASU to pull ahead, 23-19, with just under six minutes to play in the half. Following Rich Byhre's lone basket of the half, a 3-pointer with 1:27 to go, Arizona State went into halftime on a 6-0 run for a 39-29 lead.

Barnstable put in an offensive tip-in early out of halftime followed by 3-pointers from Nolan Minessale and Drake Dobbs to cut the deficit to 39-37. The Sun Devil lead stayed within single digits as Rich Byhre hit a 3-pointer at the 8:04 mark to trail, 58-55. Arizona State answered with an 11-0 run over a four-minute span to take control of the game.

TOP TOMMIES

Miles Barnstable led the Tommies in scoring for the third time this season with 12 points on 4-of-13 shooting, including 3-of-10 from long range.
Kendall Blue scored 11 points on 5-of-14 overall, marking his fourth straight game with double figure points. He also tallied four assists and two steals in back-to-back games.
Nolan Minessale led the team with five rebounds to go along with six points, two assists, one steal and one block. He has at least one block in four of five games this season.

QUOTABLES
Head Coach Johnny Tauer following the final game against a Power Five opponent this season:
"I'm just really proud of the team. They played tough and together against an unbelievably talented team and not just talented, they're well coached and they play really, really hard.

"Are there a few plays we'd love to have back? Sure, but at the end of the day, I thought our guys followed the game plan. We got 37 3-pointers off and I thought probably 85-90 percent of them were really good looks. Things we have to (do) because we're not going to score around the basket against them. There are things that we can improve on, surely, but I just love this group and how they compete, and they're fearless."

UP NEXT
St. Thomas remains on the road for its next three games, taking part in the Cream City Challenge hosted by Milwaukee Nov. 22-24. The Tommies will play the Multi-Team Event Friday at 4 p.m. against Wofford, Saturday at 12 p.m. against Portland State and Sunday at 1:30 p.m. against Milwaukee.

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-- St. Thomas Athletics --

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Team Stats

Miles Barnstable

Kendall Blue

Drake Dobbs

Carter Bjerke

Players Mentioned

Miles Barnstable

Carter Bjerke

Kendall Blue

Rich Byhre

Drake Dobbs

Ryan Dufault

Nolan Minessale