PLATTEVILLE, Wis. – Sophomore guard Anders Nelson scored 22 points as the No. 4-ranked St. Thomas men’s basketball team held off No. 8 Wisconsin-Platteville 73-70 Saturday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at Bo Ryan Court.
The Tommies (26-3), who advance to the Sweet 16 for the second year in a row, held on despite shooting only 31% in the second half and going without a field goal for the final 6:27 of the game. They survived by going 11-of-14 from the free-throw line in the game’s closing minutes.
“I was finding some of my shots coming off those ball screens,” said Nelson, who led his team with 27 points one night earlier. “With Tommy (Anderson) being such a threat as a shooter on the pick and pop, sometimes those lanes open up for me to create for myself.”
Anderson scored 15 points Saturday. Junior guard Burt Hedstrom scored 13 and sophomore guard Riley Miller had 11.
Anderson said he finds confidence to shoot from his teammates and coaches.
“They’re always telling me to shoot the ball if you’re open, gotta trust that it’s a good shot,” Anderson said, “and even though they didn’t really fall tonight, my teammates always have my back and so I’m grateful for that.”
The first half featured six lead changes. St. Thomas led by as much as nine before the Pioneers (23-5) came back to tie the score at 32. Nelson then hit a huge 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the half to make it 35-32 Tommies.
After hitting all four of his field-goal attempts in the first half, Hedstrom picked up his fourth foul early in the second half, keeping him on the bench until the 10-minute mark.
“We knew coming in that we were a little undersized, so we talked a lot about trying to contain or at least do okay on the glass and then win the turnover battle,” Tommies coach John Tauer said.
Nelson made four of seven 3-pointers. In the final six minutes, all of St. Thomas’ 11 points came off of free throws.
The Tommies face No. 2 St. John’s at 6 p.m. Saturday in Collegeville. The Tommies are 1-2 against the Johnnies this season, splitting the two games on St. John’s home court.
Justin Amaker can be reached at justin.amaker@stthomas.edu.
Joey Swanson contributed to this report.