20-point scorers gift St. Thomas 92-78 win over UC Riverside

ST. PAUL, Minn. —Another duo of 20-point scorers powered the explosive St. Thomas offense Saturday night during a 92-78 win over UC Riverside at Lee & Penny Anderson Arena, extending its home winning streak to 24 games. Carter Bjerke scored a career high 21 points while Nolan Minessale totaled 27 points for his 12th 20-point game of the season to lift the Tommies to their 10th win of the season.

First Half: An opening possession turnover allowed UCR to take the first lead of the game, part of a 5-0 run for the biggest lead of either team over the first 13 minutes. Carter Bjerke dropped in the first of his four first-half 3-pointers to answer the Highlanders' start while Nolan Minessale followed with a floating jumpshot to tie it at 5-5. The duo combined for another quick 5-0 run off a steal from Ben Oosterbaan, as Minessale converted an and-one to lead, 10-7.

Following UCR's largest lead of the night just before the under 8-minute media timeout, Nick Janowski put in a driving layup to start an 8-0 run to pull ahead 34-31. Bjerke hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cap the run and force a UC Riverside timeout. UCR tied the game again for the fifth time on an and-one conversion, but Bjerke's fourth 3-pointer broke it for the final time. The long ball helped the Tommies score seven of the game's final 11 points of the half, going into the break with a 41-38 lead.

Second Half: Bjerke answered a UCR opening basket with a turnaround shot of his own, the start of a 14-0 run through the first four minutes. The Tommies made its first five field goal attempts, including 3-pointers from Austin Herro and Minessale, and scored off two UCR turnovers. Holding a 55-40 lead with 16:27 to play, the two teams began trading baskets to keep the difference at about 15.

Through a two-minute stretch near the 10-minute mark, both teams combined to score on seven straight possessions as UCR ultimately missed first, sparking an 11-4 run by the Tommies. Ryan Dufault started and ended the 11-4 run with layups as the Tommies made 5-of-6 from the field and held the Highlanders to 1-of-5 overall during the four-minute span, pulling ahead by a game-high 18, 78-60.

Tommie Tidbits

St. Thomas' home-winning streak continues at 24, breaking its nation-leading tie with Duke. The Tommies continue its home stand with three straight at Lee & Penny Anderson Arena, first on Sunday, Dec. 28 against North Central before starting Summit League play Sunday, Jan. 4 against Denver and Wednesday, Jan. 7 against South Dakota.
Nolan Minessale led all scorers with 27 points (his nation-leading 12th 20-point game of the season) on 9-of-15 shooting, going 8-of-9 from the free throw line. Carter Bjerke followed with a career high 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting, with 5-of-7 coming from 3-point range. It's the third game this season the Tommies featured multiple 20-point scorers, all of which included Minessale. St. Thomas combined for three such games over the past two seasons, all three coming in 2024-25.
Nick Janowski scored 16 points on 8-of-10 shooting as he led the team with a career high seven assists to just one turnover. He has scored at least 10 points in every game against Division I opponents this season.
Isaiah Johnson-Arigu led the bench with 11 points, including shooting 5-of-6 on free throws, and tied Janowski and Ben Oosterbaan for the team lead with four rebounds.
St. Thomas shot 60.7 percent from the field (34-56), 50.0 percent on 3-pointers (8-16) and 84.2 percent on free throws (16-19). After shooting over 50 percent in the first half, the Tommies shot 72.7 percent (16-22) from the field and made 15-of-18 free throws over the final 20 minutes.
The Tommies are now 7-1 this season in games with a run of at least 10-0, going on a 14-0 scoring run at the beginning of the second half.
The Purple gave away a season-low six turnovers and dished out 22 assists, second best this season, for the team's second-best assist-to-turnover ratio (3.67) of the season. The Tommies have given away 10 or fewer turnovers in 11 of 14 games.

UP NEXT
St. Thomas remains at home following the Christmas break with a 1 p.m. CT tip-off time on Sunday, Dec. 28 against North Central.

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20-point scorers gift St. Thomas 92-78 win over UC Riverside

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Team Stats

Nolan Minessale

Carter Bjerke

Nick Janowski

Isaiah Johnson-Arigu

Players Mentioned

Carter Bjerke

Ryan Dufault

Austin Herro

Nick Janowski

Isaiah Johnson-Arigu

Nolan Minessale

Ben Oosterbaan

University of St. Thomas Athletics