University of St. Thomas Athletics
Thursday, January 22
St. Paul, Minn.
8:00 p.m. CT
16-5,5-1Summit League
74
vs
69
South Dakota State
10-11,3-3Summit League
1
2
F
South Dakota St.
32
37
69
St. Thomas (MN)
33
41
74
Photo by: Kylie Macziewski
Tommies’ late defense seals 74-69 win over Jackrabbits at LPAA
1/22/2026 10:41:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Bjerke, Janowski score 21 apiece as St. Thomas extends nation’s longest active home win streak to 28
ST. PAUL, Minn. — St. Thomas flipped the script on South Dakota State Thursday night at Lee & Penny Anderson Arena, erasing an eight-point second-half deficit with a game-changing defensive stand to secure a 74-69 Summit League win. Carter Bjerke and Nick Janowski scored 21 points each to power the comeback, as the Tommies (16-5, 5-1 Summit League) held the Jackrabbits (10-11, 3-3 Summit League) to 11 points over the final 11 minutes and stretched their home winning streak to 28 straight games.
FIRST HALF: Nolan Minessale opened the scoring with a corner 3-pointer on St. Thomas' first possession, but the Tommies struggled to find a rhythm early, making just one of their next six field goal attempts. South Dakota State capitalized with an 8-0 run over a 3:10 stretch, fueled by a pair of 3-pointers, to take a 12-8 lead. An SDSU turnover led to a Minessale layup to snap the skid, though the Jackrabbits responded with seven straight points through the under-10 media timeout to extend the advantage to 19-10.
Momentum shifted late in the half when Carter Bjerke knocked down his first 3-pointer after St. Thomas missed four shots and committed two turnovers. Bjerke followed with another triple as part of a 12-0 Tommie run, pushing St. Thomas in front, 20-19, and forcing an SDSU timeout with 6:41 remaining. Both teams traded runs of at least five points down the stretch before Bjerke buried his fourth 3-pointer of the half in the closing seconds to give the Tommies a 33-32 halftime lead. Bjerke led St. Thomas with 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting, despite the Tommies shooting 37.5 percent in the half compared to 45.2 percent for SDSU.
SECOND HALF: Minessale opened the second half with a layup, but South Dakota State quickly reclaimed the lead by turning two Tommie miscues into a 7-2 run for a 39-37 advantage. Nick Janowski took over from there, scoring the next 11 points for St. Thomas and accounting for one of five lead changes in the opening six minutes. SDSU countered with a 9-0 run to push ahead 53-46 and later stretched the margin to eight, 58-50, with 11:14 to play.
After allowing 26 points in the first nine minutes of the half, the Tommie defense locked in, holding the Jackrabbits to just 11 points over the final 11 minutes. St. Thomas put together a 10-0 run featuring four different scorers, capped by an and-one from Janowski to reclaim the lead, 60-58. Ryan Dufault followed with a steal and score under the basket, then finished a full-court feed from Janowski on the next possession to make it 64-62. SDSU briefly answered with two 3-pointers to move back in front, 68-67, but the Tommies used a 5-0 run over the final two minutes and held the Jackrabbits to 4-of-15 shooting down the stretch, sealing the win by going 3-of-5 at the free-throw line.
TOMMIE TIDBITS
FIRST HALF: Nolan Minessale opened the scoring with a corner 3-pointer on St. Thomas' first possession, but the Tommies struggled to find a rhythm early, making just one of their next six field goal attempts. South Dakota State capitalized with an 8-0 run over a 3:10 stretch, fueled by a pair of 3-pointers, to take a 12-8 lead. An SDSU turnover led to a Minessale layup to snap the skid, though the Jackrabbits responded with seven straight points through the under-10 media timeout to extend the advantage to 19-10.
Momentum shifted late in the half when Carter Bjerke knocked down his first 3-pointer after St. Thomas missed four shots and committed two turnovers. Bjerke followed with another triple as part of a 12-0 Tommie run, pushing St. Thomas in front, 20-19, and forcing an SDSU timeout with 6:41 remaining. Both teams traded runs of at least five points down the stretch before Bjerke buried his fourth 3-pointer of the half in the closing seconds to give the Tommies a 33-32 halftime lead. Bjerke led St. Thomas with 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting, despite the Tommies shooting 37.5 percent in the half compared to 45.2 percent for SDSU.
SECOND HALF: Minessale opened the second half with a layup, but South Dakota State quickly reclaimed the lead by turning two Tommie miscues into a 7-2 run for a 39-37 advantage. Nick Janowski took over from there, scoring the next 11 points for St. Thomas and accounting for one of five lead changes in the opening six minutes. SDSU countered with a 9-0 run to push ahead 53-46 and later stretched the margin to eight, 58-50, with 11:14 to play.
After allowing 26 points in the first nine minutes of the half, the Tommie defense locked in, holding the Jackrabbits to just 11 points over the final 11 minutes. St. Thomas put together a 10-0 run featuring four different scorers, capped by an and-one from Janowski to reclaim the lead, 60-58. Ryan Dufault followed with a steal and score under the basket, then finished a full-court feed from Janowski on the next possession to make it 64-62. SDSU briefly answered with two 3-pointers to move back in front, 68-67, but the Tommies used a 5-0 run over the final two minutes and held the Jackrabbits to 4-of-15 shooting down the stretch, sealing the win by going 3-of-5 at the free-throw line.
TOMMIE TIDBITS
- St. Thomas extended its home winning streak to 28 games, tied for the third-longest such streak in NCAA Division I since the Tommies joined the ranks in 2021-22 and the longest active streak, trailing only Houston (33) and Iowa State (29) and matching Samford, Drake and UConn.
- The Tommies improved to 3-1 against South Dakota State in their last four meetings in St. Paul, winning those games by an average margin of 3.3 points.
- Carter Bjerke and Nick Janowski scored 21 points apiece, marking the sixth time this season a pair of Tommies reached the 20-point mark in the same game, as Bjerke hit five 3-pointers, including four in the first half, and grabbed three offensive rebounds while Janowski poured in 19 points after halftime and tied Ben Oosterbaan for a team-high six rebounds.
- Nolan Minessale finished with 14 points, and Ryan Dufault provided a spark off the bench with 10 points.
UP NEXT
St. Thomas heads to Vermillion, S.D., on Saturday, Jan. 24 for a 1 p.m. tip-off against South Dakota to close the regular season series.
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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-- St. Thomas Athletics --
Team Stats
SDSU
UST
FG%
.467
.462
3FG%
.318
.308
FT%
.462
.750
RB
34
34
TO
13
14
STL
9
8
Game Leaders
Pts
21
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
8
Pts
21
FGM
8
3FGM
5
FTM
0
Pts
14
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
5
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
F
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