Guard Erik Tengwall’s 18 points and six steals guided the No. 12-ranked St. Thomas men’s basketball team to a 75-52 victory over Hamline University Wednesday night at Schoenecker Arena.

St. Thomas (5-1 overall, 3-0 MIAC) cruised to its third-consecutive MIAC victory with its veteran backcourt of Tengwall and guard Marcus Alipate, who contributed 12 points as well. The Tommies had 10 turnovers on the night and turned the Pipers’ 24 turnovers into 34 points.

“Our ability to extend our defense probably took them a little out of their comfort zone,” coach John Tauer said. “Defense—some of it’s physical, but a lot of it is focus and a lot of it’s communication. I thought our focus today was probably the best its been all year.”

St. Thomas got off to an early 6-0 lead, with Alipate hitting a 3-pointer and later converting a free throw for another 3-point play. Forward Josh Pella kept Hamline contained in the first half after a block and two-handed slam dunk—preventing the Pipers from gaining momentum.

“I think it all started on the defensive side, which turned into easy transition points to get us up and maintain that lead going into the second half and the rest of the game,” Tengwall said.

Tengwall and forward Zach Riedeman had good chemistry in the first half—racking up assists across the lanes and converting reverse layups with ease to put the Tommies up by 15 at the half.

The second half started with multiple Hamline turnovers, and St. Thomas forward Ryan Saarela was too physical on both sides of the court for the Pipers, grabbing 2 offensive and 2 defensive rebounds in the game.

The Tommies had 16 steals on the night, with Tengwall contributing six and Riedeman coming up with four. Riedeman had 11 points on the night, but said his “shots weren’t dropping,” so he adapted to fill the team’s needs instead.

“The ball wasn’t going in the hoop, so I just tried to focus more on defense, the press, other parts of the game that I could help the team with,” Riedeman said.

Alipate said that the St. Thomas defense played “tough” and forced Hamline to the middle where helped awaited. Once the Tommies trapped them in the lane, the Pipers had no other option but to cough up the ball.

“They had a tough time moving the ball inside, and we were denying the passes. It was tough for them to do anything they wanted to do,” Alipate said.

Riedeman, Alipate and Tengwall scored 41 points — more than half of the team’s 75 points. St. Thomas shot 50 percent from the floor and held Hamline to 38 percent. Tengwall was a perfect 4-4 from the field, had 4 rebounds and only missed twice on the free throw line.

“Tonight, I just tried to be aggressive, get to the hole and try to get to the foul line,” Tengwall said. “We have great shooters … they’re always a threat to hit that shot. So, I think that the defense kind of favored them a little bit more, which gave me lanes.”

“We got the ball inside. They doubled down and left wide-open shooters,” Alipate said. “We were just cutting to the rim, and everybody was kind of playing in-sync … it was a good team win.”

Hamline was coming off a 22-point home victory Monday against St. John’s. Tauer said the Pipers’ win earlier this week played a role in how his team prepared for the game, but he said his players responded to a Hamline team with “a lot of confidence.”

“We always preach our defense is one of our hallmarks … the MIAC is always tough. We feel great to be 3-0 in the conference at this point,” Tauer said. “It was really nice to be home tonight and have good crowd support.”

The men take on Bethany Lutheran Saturday night at home before traveling to Wisconsin on Dec. 21.

“We play the No. 1-team in the country, Wisconsin-Steven’s Point; so, that combined with finals—this is a really challenging stretch for everyone,” Tauer said. “(We’re) very proud of the way our guys have been able to focus on and off the court.”

Joey Anderson can be reached at ande9008@stthomas.edu.