Second-half surge gives Tommies first ever win in Vermillion, 90-78

VERMILLION, S.D. — St. Thomas overcame a halftime deficit by shooting 65 percent overall and 7-of-10 on 3-pointers in the second half to secure a 90-78 victory over South Dakota on Saturday afternoon. The Tommies (17-5, 6-1) recorded the program's first ever win in Vermillion, S.D., while outrebounding the Coyotes (11-11, 3-4), 38-25, as Nick Janowski led all scorers with 23 points.

FIRST HALF: St. Thomas struck first behind Carter Bjerke's early basket before Ben Oosterbaan drilled a 3-pointer and Nolan Minessale added a jumper and two free throws to give the Tommies a 9-4 edge just under four minutes in. South Dakota answered with seven straight points to spark three lead changes over the next three minutes, before a Ryan Dufault layup off an Isaiah Johnson-Arigu feed briefly put St. Thomas back in front, 15-13. The Coyotes responded with a 14-3 surge over a four-minute stretch to open a 27-18 advantage.

Johnson-Arigu's putback dunk helped steady the Tommies during a stretch of eight back-and-forth scores, capped by Nick Janowski's first 3-pointer of the game. That triple ignited five straight points from the redshirt freshman, who scored seven of St. Thomas' final 13 points of the half to trim the deficit to 39-37 at the break. Both teams shot roughly 43 percent in the opening half, with South Dakota scoring seven points off five Tommie turnovers compared to four points for St. Thomas on three Coyote miscues.

SECOND HALF: Janowski and Austin Herro opened the half with baskets, including Herro's coming off a turnover, before Oosterbaan and Johnson-Arigu combined for a quick 6-0 run to push St. Thomas in front, 51-45, and force a South Dakota timeout. The Coyotes pulled within one on two occasions, but Bjerke answered with back-to-back 3-pointers to stretch the lead to seven, 65-58, just after the under-12-minute media timeout.

The Tommies continued to separate two minutes later as Dufault converted a layup and Minessale knocked down his first 3-pointer of the night to make it 71-62. Janowski followed with two more 3-pointers during a decisive run that pushed him past 20 points for the fifth time in league play and extended the margin to 80-64 with 5:57 remaining. After a Janowski layup, St. Thomas endured a brief scoreless stretch of more than two minutes, allowing South Dakota to close within 11, but the Tommie defense held the Coyotes to 1-of-9 shooting from the field between the eight-minute mark and a late 3-pointer with 47 seconds to play.

TOMMIE TIDBITS

St. Thomas improved to 4-1 against South Dakota over the last five meetings and earned its first-ever win in Vermillion after five previous tries.
The Tommies shot 53.6 percent (30-56) overall and 41.7 percent on 3-pointers (10-24), riding 65.4 percent overall (17-26) and 70.0 percent from deep (7-10) in the second half.
Nick Janowski led all scorers with 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting, adding three 3-pointers, five rebounds and two assists for his seventh 20-point game of the season and fifth during conference play.
Ryan Dufault provided a spark off the bench with 13 points on 4-of-5 shooting and four rebounds, while Isaiah Johnson-Arigu chipped in 11 points off the bench, including seven in the first half.
Austin Herro scored nine points on 4-of-5 shooting and grabbed a career-high nine rebounds to lead all players.

UP NEXT
St. Thomas returns to St. Paul for a home weekend beginning Thursday, Jan. 29 against North Dakota sponsored by Twin Cities Orthopedics. It will be the team's Coaches vs. Cancer game at Lee & Penny Anderson Arena.

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Second-half surge gives Tommies first ever win in Vermillion, 90-78

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Team Stats

Nick Janowski

Ryan Dufault

Isaiah Johnson-Arigu

Nolan Minessale

Players Mentioned

Carter Bjerke

Ryan Dufault

Austin Herro

Nick Janowski

Isaiah Johnson-Arigu

Nolan Minessale

Ben Oosterbaan

University of St. Thomas Athletics