Graduate forward Parker Bjorklund drove St. Thomas to an 83-58 win over Denver Saturday night at Schoenecker Arena.
The Tommies (19-12, 9-7 Summit) held the Pioneers’ (15-16, 6-10 Summit) and the nation’s leading scorer, senior guard Tommy Bruner, to zero points in a textbook showing of the Tommies’ suffocating defense. Bruner left the game with 14:54 left to play, and finished with five assists and four turnovers.
Coach Johnny Tauer praised the defensive efforts of his players, especially senior guard Drake Dobbs and junior guard Ryan Dufault, who were the primary defenders on Bruner.
“I think if anything, our guys were committed, and it’s not just going to be one guy right,” Tauer said. “So, Drake and Ryan did a tremendous job, I think, chasing him around.”
St. Thomas now sits at fourth in the Summit League and are waiting on one final Sunday afternoon game between Oral Roberts and Kansas City, to finalize their seeding for the conference tournament. If Kansas City wins, St. Thomas will stay at the fourth spot and play fifth-ranked North Dakota State at 6 p.m. on Sunday, March 10.
If Oral Roberts wins, St. Thomas will jump to third and play Omaha at 8:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 10.
All games of the Summit League Championship will be held at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Saturday’s game against Denver is another example of why St. Thomas is the top defense in the Summit League. Entering St. Paul, Bruner was averaging 25.3 points per game before being shut-out by the Tommies. Denver’s high-paced offense was held to just 21 in the first half, and 58 in total.
Denver’s second leading scorer, junior forward Touko Tainamo was held to just eight points, half his season average.
“It was really a five-man effort. But it’s not, you know, going into a game saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to shut out the nation’s leading scorer,’” Tauer said. “You say, ‘Let’s not put them at the line. Let’s not give them layups. Let’s make them take tough shots.’”
Denver did indeed not get to the line. Despite the Tommies’ aggressive defense, they remained disciplined with their hands on defense. The Pioneers did not shoot a free throw until there were less than four minutes left in the game.
“That comes back to discipline and trust that if we do the right thing, we’ll live with the outcome,” Tauer said. “Part of that is being blessed to have a lot of veterans who understand that and we also have some young guys that I think continue to get better and better.”
Sophomore guard Kendall Blue notched his second straight 13-point performance, and followed his double-double on Thursday against Omaha with seven rebounds against Denver. The Tommies came down with 33 rebounds in total, to Denver’s 23.
“I think our guys are aware that we’re not going to have one guy who just goes out and gets 12 to 15 rebounds a night, and as a result they buy in, just like defensively, all five of us have to collectively rebound and I think we’ve gotten way better at that tonight,” Tauer said.
Beyond the starting five, three Tommies helped overpower the Pioneers. Dufault paired his lockdown defense with six points. Junior guard Ben Nau made four of six three-pointers for 12 points, and red-shirt first-year forward Carter Bjerke scored five.
Despite them only playing between 14 and 16 minutes each, the Tommies played best while they were on the floor.
“Carter is only a redshirt freshman, he’s got three more years here. The kid’s going to be unbelievable. He already is, honestly,” graduate forward Brooks Allen said.
Graduate guard Raheem Anthony stressed that the talent on their bench gives opposing teams a very tough matchup.
“Like [Dufault] and Drake. They’re so interchangeable that Drake’s chasing somebody all around, and ten seconds later [Dufault] gets subbed in and he’s doing the exact same thing,” Anthony said. “Benny and Carter finding their groove within their shot, and it just makes for an unbelievable team.”
Players were honored Saturday night as part of a Senior Night celebration in the last game of the season in Schoenecker Arena. For the three graduate players, it was a bittersweet moment for the end of their unconventional paths to Division I basketball.
Graduate forward Parker Bjorklund led all scorers with 17 points and rebounds. Bjorklund is in his sixth year of college after taking his first two years of college off from basketball, and then trying out for the then Division III Tommies.
Now a key player for St. Thomas and a Preseason All-Summit League First Team, Bjorklund is close to surpassing Tauer in career points at St. Thomas.
“If your minutes start going down, you know why,” joked Allen.
Allen is in his fifth season at St. Thomas, using his extra season of eligibility he received from the COVID-shortened 2020-2021 season. While not always making big splashes in the box score, Allen has been a valuable piece for Tauer’s squad as a leader and the “glue guy.”
“A gem like Brooks, Coach brought it up earlier: a player’s coach, a coach sometimes, a referee at times at practice. And you know you don’t find a lot of those on a team, a true glue guy,” Anthony said. “Somebody that just kind of reels us back into reality sometimes when we’re either upset or don’t know what to run. Brooks is always there to tell us.”
Anthony is in his first season as a Tommie, but spent four years playing for Saint Mary’s in the MIAC and battled St. Thomas in its Division III days. Now he is an important cog within Tauer’s machine, shown by his 12 points and six assists he garnered against Denver.
“I’m super glad from an outside perspective that Raheem was able to see how special of a program it was too because, man, he’s great to play with,” Allen said.
The graduate trio all attribute their chemistry to a team trip they took to Italy this past offseason, which allowed them time to gel off of the basketball court.
“I think that helps us this entire regular season to just, you know, stay connected and together,” Bjorklund said.
Allen took the opportunity to show how connected they had truly become by gesturing to something around his wrist.
“Now we have friendship bracelets,” he said.
Tauer made sure to emphasize that this trio’s impact on the program will extend past this season.
“Parker’s fearlessness, Brook’s thoughtfulness, and Raheem’s, I think, adaptability or selflessness. Those are probably the three qualities that I’ll remember and I think will stay in our culture for a long, long time,” Tauer said.
St. Thomas ends the season winning 11 of their 13 home games. Bjorklund attributed their success in St. Paul to the home crowd turnouts.
“Props to the fans, we really feed off that energy and it really helps us, you know just, stay locked in and just having fun out there,” Bjorklund said.
Anthony claimed that the smaller size of Schoenecker Arena helps the energy.
“One of the smaller arenas in the Summit League, so when the stands get packed, it’s like a jungle in here. I love it,” Anthony said.
The Tommies have a week before they play in the quarterfinals of the Summit League Championships on Sunday, March 10. Tauer says that he wants to keep his players rested so that they can hopefully play all three games required for a conference championship.
“When you’re fortunate to have veterans, they understand the task at hand and you know, I think they’ll be ready and refreshed,” Tauer said.
Adam Mueller can be reached at muel7541@stthomas.edu.