Led by several career-high performances from center Ryan Saarela and guard Taylor Montero, the eighth-ranked St. Thomas men’s basketball team advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament with a 78-66 victory over Central College (Iowa) Friday night at Schoenecker Arena.
Saarela finished with a career-best 25 points on 11-of-14 shooting and eight rebounds, while Montero added 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting and grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds for his first double-double of the season. Coach John Tauer had high praise for both performances and was especially proud of the role Montero stepped into.
“(Montero) guarded their post, he rebounded like a post, and on offense he did what he always does. He was wildly efficient shooting the ball,” Tauer said.
Montero, averaging a team-high 14.4 points per game this season, said the game plan heading into the night was to win the rebounding battles and keep Central from getting any second chance points.
“I was playing against a bigger guy and knew I had to step up and box out and get rebounds,” Montero said. “On offense, my teammates put me in a good position to score and I was able to take advantage of some open looks.”
Saarela, Montero and guard Cortez Tillman collectively scored 28 of the team’s 30 first-half points. After a back-and-forth half that included 11 lead changes, the game was tied 30-30 going into halftime.
“The first half we probably didn’t capitalize offensively as much on some things that we would’ve liked to. And I thought defensively we played great with the exception of four or five breakdowns that lead to easy shots,” Tauer said. “We’re a veteran team and we played with a lot of poise and composure in the second half and didn’t try and win the game in the first five minutes. We really played a focused 40 minutes.”
The game remained close for the first five minutes of the second half as neither team held a lead of more than two. That’s when the Tommies went on a 15-4 run to take a 55-45 lead at the 10:49 mark, behind strong second-half contributions from guard Grant Shaeffer and forward Jimmy Remke. After both were held scoreless in the first half, Shaeffer finished with 13 points and Remke added seven.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Central’s Jacob Hay and Colby Taylor helped the Dutch trim the lead to 65-61 with five minutes to play. St. Thomas answered with a Saarela dunk and a 3-pointer from Montero that sparked a 13-2 run to help close out the game for the Tommies.
Central (19-10 overall) was led by 16 points from guard Pete Walker, and 13 points and 10 rebounds from Taylor. St. Thomas (25-3 overall) made 18 of 30 shots in its 48-point second half surge and shot 50 percent on the game, while Central finished the night shooting 42 percent. Saarela, known primarily for his production around the basket, knocked down several key jumpers in the second half that stretched his range beyond the free-throw line.
“I’ve got to have confidence in that shot for us to be successful,” Saarela said. “Tonight they played me one-on-one, my teammates spaced the floor really well and I got good open shots so I had to take advantage of them.”
Tauer attributed much of the second-half success to the Tommies’ overall production on the glass, winning the rebounding edge 43-28, including 11 offensive rebounds that turned into 15 second-chance points.
“When you look at our veterans, rebounding was certainly a big part of it tonight,” Tauer said. “When we talk about possession basketball, it’s taking care of the ball on offense, it’s finding ways to get loose balls and it’s rebounds on defense, and I thought our guys did a great job.”
St. Thomas will host Elmhurst College (22-6) in the second round of the NCAA tournament Saturday night at 7 p.m. Elmhurst began the season with a 16-1 record and was ranked as high as No. 2, before losing five of its last 11 games. The Tommies are seeking their first Sweet 16 appearance since 2013, and their fourth in the last eight seasons.
Joey Geske can be reached at gesk8583@stthomas.edu