The national stage brought out the best in St. Thomas men’s basketball during a 79-62 win over North Dakota State Feb. 2 in front of a Schoenecker Arena record crowd of 2,068. Kendall Blue and Nolan Minessale combined for 43 points on 17-of-22 shooting as the Tommies (18-6, 8-1 Summit League) led for the entirety over the Bison (16-8, 5-4 Summit League).
The Purple, surrounded by the record crowd and featured on their first-ever CBS Sports Network broadcast at home, led from wire-to-wire after jumping ahead by 17 over the first seven minutes. The Tommies shot a blistering 7-of-9 from the field with 5-of-7 from long range over the opening run compared to the Bison, the league’s top 3-point shooting team, who were limited to 1-of-6 shooting and 0-of-5 from 3-point range.
