First place in the Summit League belongs to the St. Thomas men’s basketball team.

The conference-leading Omaha Mavericks came to Schoenecker Arena on Saturday night and the Tommies handled them in convincing fashion, turning an 11-point halftime lead into a 95-84 victory.

The Tommies improved to 20-7 overall and 10-2 in the Summit League.

The Mavericks came in having lost at South Dakota State on Thursday to cut their lead over St. Thomas in the conference standings to a half game, setting up Saturday’s showdown. The Tommies responded in championship fashion in improving their home record to 12-0, including 6-0 in the Summit.

St. Thomas has four conference games remaining and will be favored to win all four, so the title is clearly within reach.

Drake Dobbs led the way for the Tommies with 23 points while hitting all four of his 3-point attempts. Miles Barnstable had 17 points and Nolan Minessale had 15. The Tommies hit 12 3s (12 of 28).

The win avenged an 89-78 loss to the Mavericks in Omaha on January 23. St. Thomas was outrebounded 38-26 in that game, and Tommies coach Johnny Tauer knew that doing a better job on the boards would be key on Saturday.

Omaha’s starting front line goes 6-foot-9, 6-8 and 6-8, giving them a decided advantage over the Tommies. St. Thomas’ tallest starter is Carter Bjerke at 6-9, but he is primarily a perimeter player.

Despite all that, the Tommies outrebounded the Mavericks 16-15 in the deciding first half and were outrebounded in the game by only 2 — 30-28 — for the game.

The game was tied at 14-14 before the Tommies went on a 13-3 run midway through the first half to take a 27-17 lead. Barrnstable got the run started by making a 3. He then made a steal and scored on a layup to give the Tommies a 19-14 lead.

After an Omaha 3, back-to-back 3s by Ben Oosterbaan and Ben Nau put the Tommies up 25-17. When Barnstable made a steal and moved the ball up the court for a dunk by Minessale, Omaha coach Chris Crutchfield called a timeout with 8:46 to play in the half.

The Mavericks cut the Tommies’ lead to 29-24, but St. Thomas finished the first half on a 16-10 run to take a 45-34 lead into intermission.

Barnstable started the second half by hitting a 3, but the Mavericks went on a 13-2 run to cut the Tommies’ lead to 52-47. The Tommies responded by scoring the next six points to regain their double-digit lead at 58-47.

The Mavericks got within six points a couple of times the rest of the way, but the Tommies always had an answer.

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