Forward Ryan Boll recorded his third double-double of the season Wednesday at Schoenecker Arena as the St. Thomas men’s basketball team defeated Concordia-Moorhead 80-71.
Boll led the Tommies (1-0 MIAC, 3-1 overall) with 28 points and 14 rebounds in their MIAC opener. Forward Elijah Hannah poured on 16 off of the bench to help stifle a surge by the Cobbers (0-2 MIAC, 2-3 overall) in the second half.
St. Thomas ran a full-court press for a majority of the night, stifling Moorhead’s offensive rhythm.
“We think we are fairly athletic and have good depth so we want to keep the pace of the game up,” coach John Tauer said. “We felt if we could speed them up a little and not let them get into the myriad of sets they run that would be to our advantage.”
The pressure-focused defensive scheme is a change from what the Tommies have used in the past.
“We’re not really used to the ball pressure. It was the first game we’ve ever run it and the first game I’ve ever really run it, so I’m excited to see us get better at it throughout the year,” Boll said
Despite the effectiveness of the full-court press, maintaining heavy pressure for an entire possession can be difficult, and the Tommies were often fatigued toward the end of the shot clock.
“We wanted to get some more stops. Late at the end of the shot clock they made some buckets, which kept them in the game,” Hannah said. “Finishing those possessions off and playing hard is a focus.”
St. Thomas showed its depth on Wednesday, as Tommie reserves outscored the Cobber’s bench 46-20. A lot of that bench production has been coming from Tommie underclassmen.
“We’re a young group of guys, we probably had five or six freshmen playing tonight so having them come in and play like upperclassmen helps us a lot.” Boll said.
St. Thomas is missing a number of key upperclassmen right now, which has opened up opportunities for freshmen to make an impact. Senior Tyler Potts and juniors Connor Bair and Michael Hannon are all regular contributors sidelined with injuries.
Tauer said the Tommies’ ball control was the key to their success.
“You’re going to win a lot of games if you keep your turnover numbers to a half dozen,” he said. “If we can keep our turnover numbers around six, we’ll be in good shape for the rest of the year.”
Kyle Manderfeld can be reached at mand4052@stthomas.edu