First-year guard Andrew Rohde put up 20 points in the St. Thomas men’s basketball team’s 84-48 crushing defeat of St. Francis Brooklyn Sunday at Schoenecker Arena.
Last season, the Tommies (2-1) defeated the Terriers (1-2) on the road 91-71 to earn the Tommies’ first Division I win.
“It’s really exciting to be three games into the year and to see these guys grow and improve so much,” coach John Tauer said. “(The players) just love playing with one another and for this program and university.”
Rhode, who leads the Tommies in scoring (48) and points per game (16), started the Tommies’ offense off with a quick jumper 35 seconds into the game.
The Terriers and Tommies traded shots back and forth, switching the lead three times in the first five minutes. However, when Rohde sank a layup to put the Tommies up 8-7, the rest of the game became all St. Thomas, never giving up the lead again.
Right after Rohde’s layup, first-year guard Kendall Blue came off the bench and provided a massive spark for the Tommies’ offense, blocking a Terrier layup hard off the backboard and into senior forward Will Engles’ hands.
Assisted by Rohde, Engles slammed it down on a fast break to get the crowd on its feet.
Rohde led the team with six assists followed by Blue’s five, which had Tauer excited for the “unselfish” play of his team.
“Eleven assists and one turnover combined for these two is, again, really represents the way that we want to play,” Tauer said.
Although Rohde missed all five 3-pointers he attempted, his strong drives to the basket either ended in points for himself or for a teammate.
“One of the things that the coaches really helped me work on from the start was recognizing dribble lanes and driving lanes to get through because I’m good at creating for my teammates,” Rohde said.
Blue, who played more than usual Sunday due to graduate student forward Parker Bjorklund’s injury, was ready to take on a larger role, calling himself the “next man up”. He had a team second-best 15 points and contributed a massive dunk of his own assisted by Rohde with less than eight minutes left in the first half to get the crowd on its feet once again.
“I think their (Rohde and Blue’s) passing collectively is their best skill, both in terms of how good they are at it, but also their willingness to (pass),” Tauer said.
Although the Tommies led 46-23 at halftime, they did not let up offensively or defensively in the second half, extending their lead to as many as 37 points.
Tauer called this team more “versatile” than last year’s squad, which mainly relied on 3-pointers to rack up points. Instead, this year’s team has relied more on fast breaks and points in the paint.
Sunday, the Tommies put up 14 points on fast breaks and 44 points in the paint, holding the Terriers to just three points on fast breaks and 26 points in the paint.
“Whether it’s three point shots, whether it’s dunks, whether it’s blocked shots, you can see they feed off of one another, and I think that’s pretty special,” Tauer said.
The Tommies face a tough schedule of balancing travel and schoolwork with five road games in the next two weeks, but Blue is confident that, if the Tommies “bring the same mentality” from the past three games, they can “be really good.”
St. Thomas goes on a three-game road trip to Missoula, Montana, where it will take on Montana (Nov. 17), Troy (Nov. 18) and Merrimack (Nov. 19).
Cam Kauffman can be reached at kauf8536@stthomas.edu.