Titans overtake Tommies late as Minessale tops 20 points again

PORTLAND, Ore. – St. Thomas men's basketball held a nine-point lead in the second half Saturday during the second game of the Portland Invitational, but Cal State Fullerton made a late push with a 17-4 run to win, 88-80. Sophomore Nolan Minessale scored 26 points to lead the Tommies, his seventh straight game with at least 20 to open the season, as the Tommies fall to 4-3 overall.

SCORING SUMMARY:
First Half: St. Thomas leaned on early production from Nick Janowski, who scored five of the Tommies' first seven points to secure a 7-5 edge heading into the first media timeout. Cal State Fullerton responded with five straight points and controlled the lead for the next 10 minutes before the Tommies countered.

A 7-2 St. Thomas push—highlighted by a paint jumper from Nolan Minessale and a 3-pointer from Ben Oosterbaan—put St. Thomas back in front, 26-25, with 5:19 remaining. Moments later, Isaiah Johnson-Arigu took over, scoring seven consecutive points as part of a 7-0 surge to extend the Tommie advantage to 33-27. His burst carried into halftime as St. Thomas entered the break ahead, 37-33.

Both teams shot 38 percent from the field and knocked down five 3-pointers before halftime. The Tommies won the glass 21-19 and converted nine points off five Titan turnovers to create the separation.

Second Half: Cal State Fullerton erased the deficit immediately out of the locker room before Carter Bjerke answered with a 3-pointer to reclaim the lead. The Titans tied the game twice more, but St. Thomas steadied itself with four straight points and later strung together a 10-2 run—capped by another Johnson-Arigu 3-pointer—to build its largest lead of the night, 64-55, midway through the period.

The Titans trimmed the margin to four on their next two possessions and made their final charge beginning at the two-minute mark. A 7-0 Fullerton run flipped the game for a 78-77 Titan lead. Minessale responded by hitting two free throws to reach 20 points for the seventh straight game and tie the game, but Fullerton closed with poise, converting all eight of its free throws in the final 30 seconds.

St. Thomas hit just one of its final seven field goals, while Fullerton made seven of its last nine to complete the comeback.

TOMMIE TIDBITS

St. Thomas finished shooting 41 percent (28-69) from the field and 24 percent (8-33) from deep, but a near-perfect 16-of-17 performance at the line (94 percent) kept the Tommies within striking distance.
Cal State Fullerton shot 47 percent overall and 31 percent from beyond the arc, and closed 92 percent at the free-throw line (23-25).
Nolan Minessale led St. Thomas with 26 points, going 8-of-22 from the floor and a perfect 10-of-10 at the line, while adding five rebounds and five assists. He extended his unprecedented season-opening streak to seven straight 20-point games, the longest by any Tommie since at least 2005-06.
Isaiah Johnson-Arigu delivered 15 points, five rebounds and three 3-pointers as one of three Tommies in double figures.
Nick Janowski added 14 points with five boards, marking his sixth game of the season in double figures.

UP NEXT
St. Thomas concludes the Portland Invitational against Portland with a 3 p.m. tip-off.

FOLLOW ALONG
For more information on St. Thomas Men's Basketball, follow along on X at @TommieMBBall and Instagram at @tommiehoops. Tommie Athletics is now on TikTok at @tommiesports.

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Titans overtake Tommies late as Minessale tops 20 points again

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Team Stats

Nolan Minessale

Isaiah Johnson-Arigu

Nick Janowski

Ben Oosterbaan

Players Mentioned

Carter Bjerke

Nick Janowski

Isaiah Johnson-Arigu

Nolan Minessale

Ben Oosterbaan

University of St. Thomas Athletics