[slidepress gallery = ‘120125_bball_men’]
The men’s basketball team (13-4, 10-2 MIAC) had six players score in double figures Wednesday night on its way to a dominating 89-73 performance over Hamline at Schoenecker Arena.
St. Thomas used a 20-9 second half run to build a 17-point lead, and junior Zach Riedeman scored a team-high 15 points.
“(Hamline) got us here last year, and they almost beat us is the playoffs too,” junior Noah Kaiser said. “We were talking about that in the locker room, getting fired up.”
Both teams were fired up to start the game, and tempers flared early. Senior captain Peter Leslie was called for a technical foul with less than nine minutes to go in the half, and Hamline’s Tyler Parnell hit a 3-pointer shortly after to put the Pipers ahead 23-19.
“He hit me a little bit, and I was like ‘you can’t hit me,’ and I got T’d up for it,” Leslie said.
The technicals kept coming later in the first half, but this time it was Hamline’s Parnell who was whistled for a foul and a technical after shoving sophomore Erik Tengwall. Unhappy with the call, Hamline coach Nelson Whitmore voiced his displeasure with the referees but was also charged with a technical.
After the technicals, junior Will Deberg made 4-5 of free throws for St. Thomas, and the team took a 30-25 lead.
“It seems like we never have any technicals all year, and then every time we play Hamline one of us always seems to get into it,” Kaiser said. “It’s kind of a rivalry. We both play hard and are scrappy teams.”
Riedeman scored the final four points of the half for St. Thomas, and the team led 43-36 at halftime.
Second half surge
St. Thomas struggled at the start of the second half, turning the ball over four times in four minutes. The Tommies committed 11 turnovers in the second half and had 17 in the game.
Hamline capitalized on the St. Thomas mistakes, using a 11-2 run to get within five points with 10:37 left. However, Kaiser hit a 3-pointer seconds later that would help spark a 20-9 St. Thomas run that put Hamline away.
Freshman Marcus Alipate scored 14 points off the bench, and DeBerg, Kaiser and Tengwall scored 12 points each. Junior John Nance added 11 points, six rebounds and four assists.
“Hamline’s a really aggressive team,” Tauer said. “We knew it was going to be a fast-paced game.”
Brandon Rieg and Al Tillman each scored 17 points off the bench for Hamline, but St. Thomas was able to make 31-39 free throws in the game and shot 90 percent from the line in the second half.
Wednesday’s win keeps St. Thomas one-game ahead of second-place Gustavus in the MIAC. The Tommies face the Gusties Saturday on the road.
“(Gustavus) is as good a team as we’ll see,” Tauer said. “We have eight chances left in the conference, and we want to take advantage of each one. Saturday will be a great test.”
Ryan Shaver can be reached at Shav7005@stthomas.edu