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Forward Zach Riedeman’s team-high 16 points propelled the St. Thomas men’s basketball team past Aurora University (Ill.) 91-62 in the first round of the NCAA Division III men’s basketball tournament Saturday at Schoenecker Arena.

The No. 1-ranked Tommies (27-1) were tied at 12 with the unranked Spartans (22-7) seven minutes into the game. That’s when St. Thomas used a 30-10 run to end the half, and Aurora’s hope of pulling off a first-round shocker vanished.

The Tommies shot 55.7 percent from the floor while holding the Spartans to 33.8 percent. St. Thomas improved to 15-0 on its home court this season.

The Spartans have averaged 84.9 points per game and were held to a season-low 61 points against Division III competition. The 91 points marked the 11th time this season St. Thomas has broken the 90-point plateau.

“We were pretty good at the end of the first half,” coach John Tauer said. “We moved the ball well and were more patient on offense midway through the half.”

St. Thomas and Aurora changed leads 10 times in the opening seven minutes before the Tommies took complete control of the game.

Aurora connected on four of its first five possessions to grab an early 8-7 lead.

Center Tommy Hannon, who posted his ninth career double-double (14 points and 13 rebounds), said the team had to weather Aurora’s first punch.

“They’re a team that likes to run and push the tempo,” Hannon said. “We wore them down with our depth.”

Guard Marcus Alipate and center Conner Nord combined for 20 of the bench’s 41 points. Guards Cortez Tillman and Taylor Montero each contributed six points.

“It’s one of the focal points of our team,” Riedeman said about the team’s depth. “We have so many guys that can come in and out. We do a good job of wearing other teams down.”

The Tommies held a 42-22 halftime lead while holding the Spartans to just 29.6 percent shooting from floor in the opening 20 minutes. The halftime score was the largest lead in the first half.

Aurora scored the first four points of the second half, but then St. Thomas went on to build a lead as large as 32. St. Thomas maintained a double-digit lead for the entirety of the second half.

Aurora sunk 3-pointers at 35 percent in the regular season and shot a mere 14.3 percent (2-14) Saturday.

Tauer said he loved his team’s defensive effort.

“Defensively, I thought we were good,” Tauer said. “Our guys played really hard and minimized some runs of an explosive Aurora team.”

The Tommies were able to clear the entire bench with four minutes remaining in the game. Forward Josh Pella provided the last highlight in this game, throwing down a two-handed alley-oop slam from Montero to send the crowd into a frenzy.

St. Thomas added seven more points and finished the 29-point victory. Guard Scott Laskowski led Aurora with 18 points.

With 13 Tommie players scoring at least two points, Hannon said opposing teams will have trouble keying in on just one scorer.

“You never know who’s going to step up,” Hannon said. “It could be one of the five starters. It could be anyone off the bench. It makes it really hard to gameplan against us because you don’t know who you are going to guard.”

The Tommies shot well from everywhere except the free-throw line, posting an uncharacteristic 14-of-26 effort from the foul line.

“Our goal is to get better and be excellent in every area of the game,” Tauer said. “We’ll try and clean that up for next week.”

St. Thomas out-rebounded Aurora 48-35 and outscored the Spartans 27-6 from 3-point range.

With a second-round matchup with Wheaton College (Ill.) set for 7 p.m. Saturday, March 9 at home, at a site and time to be determined, Riedeman said the team needs to “do what they do best” to post a win against the Thunder.

“We need to stick to our principles and continue to focus on the details of the game,” Riedeman said. “We’ve got a week to prepare but I think we’ll be alright.”

Ross Schreck can be reached at schr8250@stthomas.edu.