Graduate guard Raheem Anthony dropped 20 points and a season high eight assists Saturday night in the Tommies’ 83-80 comeback win over South Dakota at Schoenecker Arena.
The Tommies (17-10, 7-5 Summit) mounted a comeback over the Coyotes (10-17, 3-9 Summit) after trailing by as many as 14 points. St. Thomas coach Johnny Tauer attributed the comeback to unrelenting defense that St. Thomas has become known for.
“I thought our defense was solid as a rock,” Tauer said. “You’re constantly trying to build the kind of program where at halftime, when you’re down double digits, guys trust one another.”
The Tommies started off with a back-and-forth battle and were tied at 13-13, but the Coyote offense exploded and ran the score up to a 29-19 lead. South Dakota scorched St. Thomas from the three-point line. Seven different players splashed a three, and the team was 11-14 through the first half.
The first half was a lot of the same. The Tommies didn’t play particularly poorly — they shot 53.6% from the floor and forced six turnovers — but couldn’t get over the hump and put together a real comeback effort.
Anthony knew that this was going to be a long game, and if the team wanted to win, the Tommies needed to strap in.
“There’s no home run plays, we just chip away,” Anthony said.
St. Thomas entered the locker room down 48-38, but the players remained collected. They have been here before, and they know they can turn things around.
“We weren’t panicking, but this time in the locker room, I think it was a little bit different,” senior guard Drake Dobbs said. “Just because we talked about urgency on the floor and I don’t think we had enough urgency in the first half on defense.”
The Tommies took that message of urgency to heart, and just like Anthony said, they began to chip away. South Dakota’s scorching hot shooting was nowhere to be found, and they went 0-4 from beyond the arc for the rest of the game.
Once they had the Coyote’s stalled, the Tommies offense was able to begin the comeback. Dobbs tied his career high with 18 points, while Anthony slashed through the paint and dished assists.
“I pick my spots pretty well, I think. A couple of times, Raheem gave me some great passes,” Dobbs said.
As the deficit shrank, Schoenecker Arena began to grow louder. At one point, sophomore guard Kendall Blue stood at the top of the key and waved the fans louder, like a conductor and his orchestra.
The baselines were lined with students, and basketball alumni sat alongside the sideline, and all 1,500 fans matched the intensity of the players on the court. The Tommie faithful tried to impact the game any way they could. A group of fans erupted in a pillow fight every time a South Dakota player shot free throws.
“You see that lead go down from 12 to 10 to eight, and all of a sudden, you know, the crowd is into it. They were instrumental tonight,” Tauer said.
The Tommies’ offensive effort was unstoppable. The graduate forward duo of Parker Bjorklund and Brooks Allen combined for 29 points and 15 rebounds. Blue chipped in eight points and four assists.
Eventually, two free throws from Dobbs gave the Tommies a 75-70 lead, but the Coyotes weren’t going to let them walk away with the game that easy.
A quick five points tied it up, but Anthony took it upon himself to seal the game away. Anthony sank six free throws and got his eighth assist to Bjorklund in the game’s last 1:30.
A late layup from South Dakota’s Max Burchill made the score 83-80 for the Tommies with just a second left. All St. Thomas had to do was inbound it to Dobbs and let the clock run out. With under a second left, Dobbs ran up the court and a whistle blew. The referee called him out of bounds.
Schoenecker Arena filled with boo’s and the referees met at the scorer’s table to discuss the call. If he really was out of bounds, South Dakota could have a chance at a last second shot to send things to overtime. The possibility evoked the memory of the two team’s last meeting, an overtime loss in Vermillion, South Dakota.
The officials deliberated for minutes, and suddenly the voice of Paul McCartney started playing over the arena’s speakers. The fans joined in on the song and were sending a message to the referees to “Let it Be.”
After a few more minutes of deliberation, the officials called the game. St. Thomas wins.
The win over South Dakota gave the Tommies a 7-5 record in the Summit League, and gave Tauer the last win he needed to have beaten every conference opponent in his DI career.
“If you would have asked people three years ago, when will St. Thomas have beaten every single team, you’d probably get a variety of different responses,” Tauer said. “I think it also highlights just how competitive the Summit League and how much parity there is.”
The stars of the game were Anthony and Dobbs, who have proven to be a true two-way backcourt duo, as they combined for 38 points and three of the team’s 10 steals.
“It’s always nice having another point guard, you know. Someone who knows your mind,” Dobbs said about Anthony. “We’re always talking to each other on the court throughout the game, just situations, matchups, things like that.”
The Tommies had a week-long gap in between their last game and Saturday’s match-up and used the time to focus on themselves, and keep them fresh as the Summit League Championship gets closer.
“It’s such a long season and doing one extra close-out drill on a Monday or Tuesday, there’s a law of diminishing returns,” Tauer said. “And so I think our guys were really good about getting treatment, taking care of their bodies, and were more probably cognitive rather than physical.”
The Tommies start a two-game road stint in the Dakotas at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 22, when they take on North Dakota State at the Scheels Center in Fargo, N.D.
Adam Mueller can be reached at muel7541@stthomas.edu.