Late shots seal 68-65 win for St. Thomas over Kansas City

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Late 3-pointers by Drake Dobbs and Nolan Minessale helped St. Thomas men's basketball bounce back with a 68-65 win over Kansas City on Saturday night. The Tommies (16-6, 6-1 Summit League) outrebounded the Roos (10-12, 2-5 Summit League) 39-34 led by Miles Barnstable and Ben Oosterbaan with eight each.

St. Thomas led by as many as 11 points in the first half before Kansas City chipped away and took a 60-58 lead with 2:31 to play. Minessale, a 27 percent 3-point shooter on the season, drained a corner 3-pointer from Dobbs to pull ahead before a UMKC turnover with 45 seconds to play.

Dobbs took control of the ball and ran the clock down, stepping back with four seconds on the shot clock to drain the team's 10th and final 3-pointer of the night. Despite Barnstable making two free throws, the Roos cut the deficit to one, 66-65, but another pair of free throws from Dobbs sealed the win.

The Tommies shot 40.4 percent (21-52) from the floor, their lowest of the conference season, and made 10-of-29 from long range and 16-of-22 from the free throw line. The Purple's defense limited Kansas City to 32.2 percent (12-31) overall and 38.7 percent (12-of-31) from 3-point range. St. Thomas won the rebound margin for the first time since Dec. 21 during its win over Bowling Green.

TOMMIE TIDBITS

Miles Barnstable led all Tommies with 16 points and tied with Ben Oosterbaan with eight rebounds. It's the ninth time Barnstable has led the team in scoring (8-1) while it's the fourth time Oosterbaan (4-0) and the second time Barnstable (2-0) have led in rebounds.
Drake Dobbs finished with 13 points on 3-of-6 shooting, including 2-of-4 from long range, and 5-of-6 from the free throw line. He added a team-high four assists with three rebounds.
Carter Bjerke and Ryan Dufault came off the bench to score 12 points each, both making four field goals. Bjerke went 3-of-6 from beyond the arc along with three rebounds while Dufault went 4-of-4 from the free throw line with four rebounds. Dufault now has double digit scoring games in Kansas City over the past two seasons.
Nolan Minessale led the Tommies with three blocks, his third career game with at least three. The Purple finished with six blocks as a team, the fourth instance this season and second over the past four games.
The Tommies won the rebound margin, 39-34, for the first time since Dec. 21, 2024 when they outrebounded Bowling Green, 39-30. St. Thomas is now 8-0 this season when outrebounding its opponents.
The 40.4 field goal percent is the lowest for St. Thomas during the conference schedule while its 34.5 3-point percent is the second lowest (31.0 percent Jan. 23 at Omaha).
St. Thomas gave away more turnovers than its opponent for just the fourth time this season, going 3-1 in those games, and the second time over the past 19 games.

UP NEXT
St. Thomas returns to Schoenecker Arena for two homes games, first on Wednesday, Jan. 29 to close out the first half of the Summit League schedule against Oral Roberts followed by Sunday, Feb. 2 with a nationally televised matchup against North Dakota State. The game against NDSU will be broadcast exclusively on CBS Sports Network.

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-- St. Thomas Athletics --

Late shots seal 68-65 win for St. Thomas over Kansas City

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Team Stats

Miles Barnstable

Drake Dobbs

Ryan Dufault

Carter Bjerke

Players Mentioned

Miles Barnstable

Carter Bjerke

Drake Dobbs

Ryan Dufault

Nolan Minessale

Ben Oosterbaan

University of St. Thomas Athletics