The St. Thomas men’s basketball team improved to 15-4 on the season and a perfect 4-0 in Summit Conference play with a 91-80 win in front of 2,390 fans in the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center at North Dakota Thursday night.

Both teams battled to a near-draw at halftime, with the Tommies holding on for a slim, one-point lead of 37-36 at the break.

However, St. Thomas kicked it into gear in the second half, outscoring the Fighting Hawks 54-44 after intermission to head out of Grand Forks an 11-point victor.

Tommies guards Nick Janowski and Nolan Minessale led all scorers with 32 and 27 points, respectively, and were the only St. Thomas players to score in double digits. Carter Bjerke and Austin Herro each chipped in nine points.

Conversely, North Dakota had four players in double digits, though Hawks guards Greyson Uelmen and Anthony Smith III both topped out at 19 points apiece.

Janowski and forward Isaiah Johnson-Arigu led the Tommies in rebounding, with five boards apiece. Janowski also scorched the net with seven three-pointers on nine attempts while shooting 11 of 16 from the field and 3 of 5 from the free-throw line. Minessale was 8 for 13 from the field and 7 for 12 at the line.

With the win, St. Thomas remained just one-half game behind North Dakota State (15-5 overall, 5-0 Summit) in circuit play. Most other Summit teams had Thursday off other than South Dakota and Kansas City, with the Coyotes topping the Kangaroos 99-83 in Vermillion, SD.

Neither St. Thomas nor NDSU has a blemish against Summit competition, but that will all change on Saturday. The Bison are scheduled to play host to the Tommies at the Scheels Center in Fargo. Tip-off between the conference front-runners is slated for 1 p.m.

NDSU features guard Damari Wheeler-Thomas, who leads the Bison with a 14.4 points-per-game average. Guard Trevian Carson is the team’s top rebounder, averaging 6.7 boards per contest.

Like St. Thomas, NDSU has not lost since entering conference play. The last loss for the Bison came on Dec. 22 against Texas-El Paso in the consolation round of the Sun Bowl Invitational in the Miners’ home arena.

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