The St. Thomas men’s basketball team entered Sunday’s game with the Kansas City Roos at Schoenecker Arena on a high. For the majority of the first half, however, it looked as though the Tommies would be stumbling into the new year.

Their leading scorer, Parker Bjorklund, was being held in check, they were getting dominated on the glass and, perhaps most damaging of all, they were being outhustled.

In the end, the Tommies weren’t able to simply flip a switch, but they did flip the script, outscoring the Roos 45-23 in the second half to coast to a 77-56 victory.

The Tommies (10-5, 2-0 Summit league) trailed 33-25 with 2 minutes, 23 seconds to play in the first half, They closed the half on a 7-0 run, punctuated by Brooks Allen’s 3-point basket at the buzzer.

They then went on a 17-3 during the first six minutes of the second half, and the rout was on.

The Tommies said there was no panic when they went into the locker room at halftime, but there was a sense of urgency.

“We knew our energy was a little down,” said Tommies guard Drake Dobbs, who finished with 14 points. “We talked about coming together as a team, and getting our spirits up.”

Asked about the reason for the low energy , Dobbs said it could be traced to the short turnaround for the Tommies after opening Summit League play on Friday night with a one-sided
victory at North Dakota.

“You really don’t have a lot of time to rest your legs,” he said. “And, personally, Sunday at 2 p.m., I think it’s hard to get the energy up.”

For the most part, the Tommies’ comeback was fueled by a marked increase in defensive intensity. The Tommies held the Roos (6-9, 1-1) to 28 percent shooting (7 of 25) in the second half.

“Our guys were really locked in; that was one of the better defensive halves we had,” St. Thomas coach Johnny Tauer said, “and we’ve had several of them the last month.”

Offered Tommies guard Kendall Blue, who scored 15 points: “Our defense really amplified the crowd. It made the energy go around the arena, which led to our offensive end. It’s contagious.”

Relying on a pair of 6-foot-8 physical big men, the Roos outrebounded the Tommies 27-10 in the first half. While the Roos were feasting on second-chance points on the offensive end, they were being disruptive on the defensive end.

“The way they are able to apply pressure defensively and on the glass is really impressive,” Tauer said. “The first half, I thought we played hard, but we didn’t necessarily convert things at the basket, and we certainly didn’t rebound the way we need to.

“Around the rim they look like a high-major team. We talk about it in film, but it’s hard to simulate that. A lot of our drives were good drives, but all of a sudden you see a hand at 11, 12 feet. That’s hard to finish.”

The Tommies continued to attack the basket in the second half, which led to a 40-22 advantage in points in the paint and a 25-15 edge in free-throw attempts. Tauer said the better results in the second half could be traced to not relying on the first drive, but using it to lead to better shots either on a kick out or for a second drive.

Guard Raheem Anthony led the Tommies with 17 points. Allen had 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds.

Even though the Tommies won by 21 points, it seemed as though they pulled off an escape.

“There are gong to games like today when we’re not feeling it, the energy is a little low,” Dobbs said. “As long as we keep talking to each other, we’re going to be fine.

“It feels great to start league play 2-0. It’s going to helps us keep the dominos falling.”

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