Barnstable scores 20, Minessale adds career high in win at Bears

GREELEY, Colo. -- St. Thomas men's basketball used season best shooting and a 19-1 run to close the first half to hand Northern Colorado its first home loss of the season, 87-75, in Greeley, Colo., on Wednesday night.

The Tommies moved to 3-0 in the Big Sky-Summit Challenge since its first year a season ago and return home to close the challenge Saturday, Dec. 7 against the Big Sky preseason favorite Montana Grizzlies.

Junior Miles Barnstable finished with 20 points on 8-of-9 shooting, his second 20-point game of the season, while Nolan Minessale added a career high 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting overall.

Four Tommies reached double digit scoring while St. Thomas shot a season- and Division-I-era-high 64.3 percent (36-56) from the field along with 7-of-14 from 3-point range. The Bears shot 51.0 percent (25-49) overall and outrebounded the Tommies, 30-21, but St. Thomas scored 24 points off 16 UNC turnovers.

GAME RECAP
Byhre accounted for the Tommies' first two baskets of the game on his way to 11 first-half points, setting a season high. Both teams traded leads seven times over the next five-plus minutes until Northern Colorado went on an 11-4 run to take its largest lead of the half, 26-20, with just over 10 minutes before halftime.

A pair of free throws by Kendall Blue was the beginning of a 24-4 run over the next 8:34 to give the Purple momentum. Byhre added seven points during the run as the Tommies made 7-of-9 field goals with no turnovers while the Bears missed four field goals with five turnovers given away. St. Thomas scored 19 of the final 20 points of the half to take a 47-32 lead.

Both teams traded baskets over the opening two minutes as Barnstable scored the Tommies' first eight points of the half. UNC's Isaiah Hawthorne also took over scoring duties as he put up 13 of his team's first 17 points over a 5:23 span. His third 3-pointer of the half cut the deficit to 10 which was later brought down to single digits, 63-56, as he hit another 3-pointer at the 11:30 mark off an offensive rebound.

St. Thomas went on a scoreless run of about two and a half minutes, including two missed field goals and two turnovers, that allowed Northern Colorado to its closest margin, 69-65. Kendall Blue answered on the next possession followed by a 3-pointer from Drake Dobbs to start an 8-0 run and create the final separation of the night. The Tommies successfully handled the Bears' full-court pressure to hand them their first home loss of the season.

QUOTABLES
Head Coach Johnny Tauer
"First off, I think they're just unbelievably well coached and skilled. We have a ton of respect for their program. Our guys were focused early in the game and you saw that (Northern Colorado's) efficiency on offense is incredible. I thought we were playing decent defense, and they had 20 points or so in the first eight minutes.

"The way our guys took care of the ball…seven turnovers, played really smart together. And then the final 10 minutes of each half, I credit our depth and the way our guys just kept playing together. I don't know that I'm going to say we wore them down, but I think they're so good on offense that it's sort of a war of attrition and I just thought we got contributions from so many guys."

TOMMIE TIDBITS

St. Thomas shot over 60 percent in a half for the fourth and fifth times this season, a season high 63.3 percent (26-40) over the first 20 minutes before topping that number shooting 65.4 percent (17-26) in the second half.
Overall, the Tommies' 64.3 percent shooting is the highest in a game during the Division I era. St. Thomas has totaled seven games shooting above 60 percent, including the road win at Green Bay this season, and held a previous single-game high of 63.3 percent on Nov. 11, 2022 against Chicago State.
St. Thomas is now 3-0 in Big Sky-Summit Challenge games, beating Idaho on the road and Sacramento State at home in 2023-24. The Tommies have beaten their Big Sky opponents (during the challenge games alone) by an average margin of 11 points.
UNC fell at home for the first time this season and tied for their season low scoring at home (third lowest overall).
Wednesday was the Purple's first win when not scoring 90 points. The Tommies are averaging 94.0 points during wins.
Northern Colorado entered Wednesday as the Big Sky's highest ranked team in both the Ken Pom (138) and NET Rankings (96). It's the highest ranked team in the Ken Pom and NET that St. Thomas has beaten in the Division I era. St. Thomas entered the night 153 in Ken Pom and 144 in NET Rankings.
The Tommies improved to 6-0 on the season when leading at halftime.
Miles Barnstable led the Tommies in scoring with 20 points on 8-9 shooting, including 2-3 from 3-point range, marking his fourth game leading the team in scoring. St. Thomas is 3-1 when Barnstable leads.
Carter Bjerke led the Purple in rebounds with six, his first game leading in the category this season.
After beginning his career with at least one block in five of his first six games, Nolan Minessale snapped a three-game block-less streak with one against UNC. He set career highs with 18 points and 8 field goals made, while he recorded his second highest field goals attempted.

UP NEXT
St. Thomas closes the Big Sky-Summit Challenge at home Saturday, Dec. 7 at 2 p.m. against Montana. The Grizzlies began the challenge with a 71-67 win over South Dakota State in Missoula, Mont.

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Barnstable scores 20, Minessale adds career high in win at Bears

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Team Stats

Miles Barnstable

Nolan Minessale

Drake Dobbs

Rich Byhre

Players Mentioned

Miles Barnstable

Carter Bjerke

Kendall Blue

Drake Dobbs

Nolan Minessale

University of St. Thomas Athletics