After senior forward Elijah Hannah dominated on the floor scoring 18 points, the No. 4-ranked St. Thomas men’s basketball team extended its win streak to eight, leading the Tommies to a 97-58 victory over Concordia-Moorhead Saturday at Schoenecker Arena.
Coach John Tauer thought focus and defensive execution set the tone for his team. St. Thomas (19-2, 15-1 MIAC) held the Cobbers (2-20, 0-17 MIAC) to just 19 points in the first half with a full-court press.
“I think our ability to change the tempo and try to create a pace that can be challenging for teams is one of our strengths,” Tauer said. “Our guys certainly like playing fast. It’s always a balance of how fast you can play while not compromising efficiency.”
The Tommies were led by Hannah, a powerhouse for the team in scoring, rebounds and assists.
“The way their bigs played Tommy (Anderson) and I, they kind of just let us shoot, but we also had our way of posting up and driving so we looked to attack and play off that,” Hannah said.
Junior guard Ryan Lindberg chipped in 14 points, going 4-6 from the three-point line.
“It’s funny because in shoot around shots weren’t falling at all, but I stayed after just a little bit and in warm ups I felt good. It’s always nice to see the first one go in,” Lindberg said.
With such a huge lead, Tauer was able to give playing time to all of his players.
“It’s nice to get all 18 players in the game,” Tauer said. “It’s easy to come in a game at that point, and try to score, which is understandable, but I thought all of them played very unselfishly.”
The team doesn’t talk much about their No. 4 ranking, but Lindberg believes the team’s chemistry and energy contributes to the success.
“We’re basically hanging out with each other 24/7 on and off the court,” Lindberg said. “It’s fun playing with everyone on the court. We know each other’s strengths at this point in the year, and we know what gets each other going.”
The Tommies have four regular season games left, with the next three on the road.
“We’re kind of looking at it like it’s the start of a playoff,” Hannah said. “We have two big games on the road next week against Bethel and St. John’s, so we will prepare for those and act like they are playoff games.”
St. Thomas travels to Bethel Feb. 12 for a 7 p.m. tipoff.
Carly Noble can be reached at nobl1781@stthomas.edu.