Dave Eggen/Inertia

Men's Basketball

Dominant second half sends No. 2 seed St. Thomas into title tilt

The Basics
Score: No. 2 St. Thomas 85, No. 6 North Dakota 69
Records: St. Thomas (24-9, 12-4 SL), North Dakota (12-20, 5-11 SL)
Location: Denny Sanford PREMIER Center - Sioux Falls, S.D.



SIOUX FALLS, S.D. –  No. 2 St. Thomas earned its first trip to the Summit League Championship title game thanks to a dominant second half as the Tommies defeated No. 6 seed North Dakota 85-64 in semifinal action Saturday at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center.

Kendall Blue led all scorers with 21 points and the Tommies forced the Fighting Hawks into 24 turnovers, scoring 40 points off those miscues to reach the first conference title game of the program's Division I era.

Drake Dobbs and Carter Bjerke each added 15 points and Miles Barnstable chipped in 14 as four Tommies reached double figures in a game they outscored the Fighting Hawks 52-36 after the break. 

Bjerke made St. Thomas' first field goal attempt from deep but the Tommies would miss their next 10 as UND opened up a 12-5 advantage.

The Fighting Hawks started 5-of-8 but then missed six straight and failed to take more of an advantage of UST's cold draught.

Bjerke made a putback off his own miss to snap the near six-minute field goal draught. After two more misses, Drake Dobbs made back-to-back buckets and Kendall Blue converted a three-point play to cut the deficit to 15-14.

With the Tommies focusing a lot of their defensive attention on Treysen Eaglestaff, who had a Summit League Tournament record 51 in the Hawks' quarterfinal upset of South Dakota State, two unlikely sources buried back-to-back triples as Mambourou Mara and Amar Kuljuhovic to spark a 10-0 run that gave UND its only double-digit lead of the game.

St. Thomas took its turn making a run, churning out an 11-2 stretch that pulled the higher-seeded Tommies within two at 27-25. 

Bjerke ended the half like he started it, drilling a triple for the Tommies, who squared things at 33-33 with the make from their starting center. Blue had 10 first-half points to lead all scorers while the defense held Eaglestaff scoreless for the third straight half after he did not score in the second regular season matchup against the Tommies on Feb. 27.

It was all Tommies in the second half as they reached their first-half point total at the 9:41 mark on a layup from Nolan Minessale. That capped a 13-for-20 start from the floor and had St. Thomas up 66-49.

After that spurt, UND showed a little life getting three straight field goals to cut the its deficit to 10 but Barnstable hit the Tommies' ninth three-pointer and the Fighting Hawks never got back within single digits.

Eaglestaff found the scoring column in the second half but he could only muster six points after his historic performance in the quarterfinals. Kuljuhovic finished with 13 while Eli King and Mier Panoam shared team-high honors with 15.

The Tommies will play the Mavericks in Sunday's title game at 8 p.m. CT on CBS Sports Network. With St. Thomas still ineligible for NCAA postseason play as it continues a five-year transition to the Division I level, Omaha, as the Summit League regular season champion, will earn the league's automatic bid and represent the conference at the 2025 NCAA Tournament for the first time.

Turning Point
Trailing 36-33 early in the second half, Bjerke hit his third triple of the game to ignite a decisive 14-5 run that put the Tommies in the lead for good. Blue connected on a three-pointer and Minessale threw home a dunk during that spurt to ignite the Tommie faithful that made the trip from St. Paul.

Inside the Box Score
  • The Tommies had matched their output from the first half in the opening 10:19 of the second half as they broke open a tie game at the half, charging ahead to lead by 17 at that point.
  • Both teams shot well from the floor but it was the Tommies' dozen makes from three-point range that proved to be the difference. St. Thomas finished 12-for-29 while UND only made 6-of-21. 
  • St. Thomas forced the Fighting Hawks into 22 turnovers and scored 35 points off those miscues.
News & Notes
  • St. Thomas will play in the tournament title game in just their third trip to Sioux Falls -- the Tommies did advance to the semifinals in their first two trips in 2023 and 2024.
  • North Dakota made its only previous appearance in the Summit League Tournament title game when the Fighting Hawks were also the No. 6 seed in 2020. That was also the Fighting Hawks last appearance in the semifinals.
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