University of St. Thomas Athletics
Saturday, January 10
Tulsa, Okla.
7:00 p.m. CT
14-4,3-0Summit League
82
at
71
Oral Roberts
5-13,0-3Summit League
1
2
F
St. Thomas (MN)
43
39
82
Oral Roberts
40
31
71
Photo by: ORU Athletic Communications
Tommies surge late to top Oral Roberts, 82-71, in Tulsa
1/10/2026 9:43:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Five players score in double figures as St. Thomas extends longest winning streak of DI era to eight
ST. PAUL, Minn. — St. Thomas used a decisive late run Saturday night to pull away from Oral Roberts in Tulsa, placing five players in double figures and securing an 82-71 Summit League road victory to extend the longest winning streak of the Division I era to eight games.
FIRST HALF: St. Thomas settled in early behind Ben Oosterbaan, who scored the Tommies' first five points to knot the game at 5-5. After the Tommies briefly moved in front, 9-8, Oral Roberts answered with a 12-2 run over a three-minute stretch, shooting 5-of-6 from the field and 2-of-3 from beyond the arc while St. Thomas went 1-of-4 overall with a turnover. Isaiah Johnson-Arigu halted the surge with a driving dunk, igniting a 20-6 Tommie response that flipped the momentum back in St. Thomas' favor.
During the run, the Tommies connected on seven of eight shots, including a pair of 3-pointers, while limiting the Golden Eagles to 2-of-8 shooting. Nick Janowski poured in eight points during the stretch and Ryan Dufault added seven, highlighted by his first 3-pointer of the season, to give St. Thomas a 31-26 edge with 8:10 to play. The Tommies pushed the lead to six on a Jermaine Coleman layup at the five-minute mark, but Oral Roberts closed the half on a 9-6 run, trimming the margin to 43-40 at the break. Janowski scored 16 of his team-high points in the opening 20 minutes as St. Thomas shot 59.3 percent from the field in the half.
SECOND HALF: St. Thomas opened the second half with back-to-back 3-pointers from Carter Bjerke and Johnson-Arigu to maintain a six-point cushion through the first five minutes, while Oral Roberts started the half 1-of-6 from the field. The Golden Eagles reclaimed the lead, 52-51, for the first time since the opening half as the Tommies went cold, missing six straight shots, including two offensive putback chances. Nolan Minessale snapped the drought with a driving layup before Johnson-Arigu followed with a basket of his own as part of a 7-4 run to regain a 60-56 advantage just under the 10-minute mark.
After Oral Roberts tied the game at 64-64, Dufault converted a layup to reach double figures and spark a decisive 12-2 run over the next five minutes. Bjerke scored six consecutive points to extend the lead to a game-high eight, and a hustle play on a steal sent Minessale to the line to push the margin to 10 with 1:52 remaining. A Golden Eagle turnover on a missed putback led to a Janowski layup for a 12-point cushion, and St. Thomas closed the game by going 4-of-6 at the free-throw line in the final 43 seconds. Johnson-Arigu scored 14 of his 17 points in the second half as both teams shot under 43 percent after the break and below 20 percent from 3-point range.
TOMMIE TIDBITS
FIRST HALF: St. Thomas settled in early behind Ben Oosterbaan, who scored the Tommies' first five points to knot the game at 5-5. After the Tommies briefly moved in front, 9-8, Oral Roberts answered with a 12-2 run over a three-minute stretch, shooting 5-of-6 from the field and 2-of-3 from beyond the arc while St. Thomas went 1-of-4 overall with a turnover. Isaiah Johnson-Arigu halted the surge with a driving dunk, igniting a 20-6 Tommie response that flipped the momentum back in St. Thomas' favor.
During the run, the Tommies connected on seven of eight shots, including a pair of 3-pointers, while limiting the Golden Eagles to 2-of-8 shooting. Nick Janowski poured in eight points during the stretch and Ryan Dufault added seven, highlighted by his first 3-pointer of the season, to give St. Thomas a 31-26 edge with 8:10 to play. The Tommies pushed the lead to six on a Jermaine Coleman layup at the five-minute mark, but Oral Roberts closed the half on a 9-6 run, trimming the margin to 43-40 at the break. Janowski scored 16 of his team-high points in the opening 20 minutes as St. Thomas shot 59.3 percent from the field in the half.
SECOND HALF: St. Thomas opened the second half with back-to-back 3-pointers from Carter Bjerke and Johnson-Arigu to maintain a six-point cushion through the first five minutes, while Oral Roberts started the half 1-of-6 from the field. The Golden Eagles reclaimed the lead, 52-51, for the first time since the opening half as the Tommies went cold, missing six straight shots, including two offensive putback chances. Nolan Minessale snapped the drought with a driving layup before Johnson-Arigu followed with a basket of his own as part of a 7-4 run to regain a 60-56 advantage just under the 10-minute mark.
After Oral Roberts tied the game at 64-64, Dufault converted a layup to reach double figures and spark a decisive 12-2 run over the next five minutes. Bjerke scored six consecutive points to extend the lead to a game-high eight, and a hustle play on a steal sent Minessale to the line to push the margin to 10 with 1:52 remaining. A Golden Eagle turnover on a missed putback led to a Janowski layup for a 12-point cushion, and St. Thomas closed the game by going 4-of-6 at the free-throw line in the final 43 seconds. Johnson-Arigu scored 14 of his 17 points in the second half as both teams shot under 43 percent after the break and below 20 percent from 3-point range.
TOMMIE TIDBITS
- St. Thomas has won three straight Summit League road openers and is 4-1 in road openers since joining the league in 2021-22.
- The Tommies recorded the first eight-game winning streak of the Division I era. The program's last streak of at least eight wins came across the end of the 2019-20 season and the first seven games of the shortened 2020-21 campaign.
- Isaiah Johnson-Arigu posted his third straight double-digit scoring effort and 10th of the season, finishing with 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting while going 6-of-8 at the free-throw line.
- Nick Janowski notched his third double-double of the season, leading the Tommies with 23 points on 11-of-14 free throws and adding 12 rebounds. It's the second straight game a Tommie has recorded a double-double, joining Nolan Minessale from Wednesday's win over South Dakota.
- St. Thomas placed five players in double figures for the second straight game and the fourth time this season. Carter Bjerke finished with 11 points and five rebounds, while Ryan Dufault and Ben Oosterbaan each scored 10 points.
- The Tommies' streak of four straight 90-point games came to an end, but St. Thomas has scored at least 80 points in each game of its eight-game winning streak.
UP NEXT
St. Thomas remains on the road for a trip to North Dakota and North Dakota State Jan. 15-17. The Tommies begin the road week at 7 p.m. Thursday against the Fighting Hawks and finish at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Bison.
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.
JOIN US
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-- St. Thomas Athletics --
Team Stats
UST
ORU
FG%
.482
.463
3FG%
.238
.346
FT%
.742
.545
RB
36
30
TO
6
9
STL
5
4
Game Leaders
Pts
23
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
11
Pts
17
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
6
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
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/ Men's Basketball
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/ Men's Basketball
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