Sioux Falls, South Dakota–There will be 4 Summit League Basketball Teams left playing this season tomorrow, and St. Thomas is one of them. The Tommies rallied from down ten with around 12 minutes to go to win by seven over the Western Illinois Leathernecks. This group has earned the chance to play the number one seed Oral Roberts Golden Eagles tomorrow at 6PM. What the Tommies should takeaway is that they can defend stars, Trenton Massner this game was held to ten points. UST also showed that they have the poise to finish out physical games down the stretch. Finally, Andrew Rohde and Parker Bjorklund proved why they are All-League (not that they had to before) by scoring 20+ points on the biggest stage of the season.
BRING ON THE GOLDEN EAGLES #RollToms
Game Recap
The Denny Sanford Premier Center was sparse which was definitely an advantage for UST (message to tommie fans, make the tournament, it is a lot of fun.)
Bjorklund opened the game with a solid hook shot, and proceeded to score in rapid succession after that. The game was knotted up at 19 halfway through the first half. In a win or go home scenario finding an offensive rhythym on the fly is critical. UST in the first half struggled with the WIU physicality in the paint. Western used that to their advantage ending the half up 30-34, with 28 of their points coming in the paint.
UST however did have some momentum as they went into halftime with huge dunk from Parker Bjorklund. Even with that, Western continued their paint ferocity led by Quinlan Bennett. WIU extended their lead to ten with 12 minutes to go. Then the script flipped. Western, who in the first half shot nearly 60%, could not buy a bucket, make their free throws, or stop UST from scoring. Andrew Rohde got the Sanford Center Rowdy with some dagger three pointers as UST slowly but surely chipped away at their lead. Then UST with a slight lead continued to build, and took their largest lead of the game at 8. In those situations, there is nobody better in the business than John Tauer managing a lead late. UST being able to close it out finally 67-60. JT went big in the second half, with a lot of minutes for Kendall Blue, Andrew Rohde, Brooks Allen, Ahjany Lee, and the previously mentioned Bjorklund. For UST to beat ORU it has to do exactly what it did tonight, get the ball into non-stars hands, and if the other team is going to the paint, have the shooting available to score on the other end from deep.