Flat first half dooms Bison men in quarterfinal Summit loss

The University of St. Thomas stuck a 68-58 loss on the Bison that was worse than the final score indicated, a theme from last week that carried over to the Denny Sanford Premier Center. NDSU’s last three games were defeats by 17, 20 and 10 points.

Finding answers to those last three games was not easy afterward. Head coach Dave Richman called it challenging.

“Been doing this a long time and you search for words,” he said. “We have tremendous character and integrity in the room but I thought today was a microcosm of our season. I loved our urgency out of the gates but I thought we lacked some poise and execution for a stretch there.”

It was the first quarterfinal loss since 2017 for a Bison program that reached the Summit title game in each of the previous five years.

“It’s tough, it’s a position we’re not used to,” Richman said. “It’s tough because we lost the game and it’s tough because we have to go home. It’s tough because we have to end the season.”

St. Thomas still has two more years remaining before it is eligible for the NCAA tournament because of the Division I reclassification. The Tommies can still win the Summit tournament and if that happens the automatic bid to the NCAA tourney would go to regular season champion South Dakota State.

Against the Bison, the Tommies showed they’re capable, particularly in the first half.

“More than anything, our guys’ consistency and it starts with preparation,” said St. Thomas head coach Johnny Tauer. “They just did what we talked about and it always doesn’t go that way.”

The Tommies had consecutive-point runs of 10 and nine points in the first half, were 6 of 8 from 3-point range at one point and took a 10-point lead, forcing a Bison time out with just less than seven minutes remaining.

The bleeding didn’t stop. Turnovers, a few of the careless variety, were also not NDSU’s friend.

“Listen, Johnny does a good job and they have a good team, they have a great program, but with all due respect, I thought it was self-inflicted,” Richman said. “We’re turning it over and not playing strong. Just didn’t have the poise we needed and it just compounds itself. It was bad offense that led to bad defense.”

Raheem Anthony’s steal and dunk made it 33-20 and the Bison season was already looking in danger. One possession later, Brooks Allen’s 3-pointer made it a 16-point advantage.

Another turnover, a St. Thomas offensive rebound turned into Parker Bjorklund’s three-point play and it was 39-20. NDSU couldn’t get to halftime quick enough.

It ended 42-22.

“Really energetic,” said St. Thomas guard Kendall Blue, who led his team with 15 points. “Our main focus was to come out and create a spark. We got our crowd into it and we appreciate our supporters and other fans.”

Whatever defense the Bison threw at the Tommies two weeks ago in a 64-50 win disappeared in the first 20 minutes, but reappeared to start the second half. NDSU held the Tommies scoreless for six minutes, scored the first 12 points and got back into the mix.

Plus, Bjorklund, the team’s leading scorer, picked up his fourth foul with 11 minutes left. NDSU didn’t capitalize. The Tommies scored the next 10 in a row and it was back to a 20-point game.

The Bison hit their last five shots to close the gap.

Guard Jacari White led the Bison with 16 points. Leading scorer Andrew Morgan was held to four points on 1 of 4 field goals, the second straight game he had less than five field goal attempts.

“He’s one of the most dominant posts around,” Tauer said. “I was proud of how our guys defended tonight. Our connectedness on defense has been inspiring throughout the year.”

NDSU (15-17): Morgan 1-4 2-2 4, Feddersen 4-8 2-2 11, Wheeler-Thomas 1-4 1-3 3, White 6-8 0-0 16, Skunberg 3-9 0-0 7, Miller 3-5 1-1 8, Waddles 1-2 0-0 2, Dissette 0-1 0-1 0, Burke 2-2 0-0 5, Hastreiter 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 22-44 6-9 58.

UST (20-12): Allen 3-8 0-0 9, Bjorklund 3-9 1-1 7, Blue 6-7 0-0 15, Dobbs 3-4 0-3 7, Anthony 2-7 0-0 4, Nau 0-3 0-0 0, Bjerke 4-5 0-0 12, Dufault 5-6 4-6 14, Martinelli 0-1 0-0 0, Lee 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 26-51 5-11 68.

Halftime: UST 42, NDSU 22. Total fouls: NDSU 11, UST 16. Fouled out: none. Rebounds: NDSU 24 (Skunberg 8); UST 26 (Anthony 7).

3-point goals: NDSU 8-19 (Feddersen 1-4, Wheeler-Thomas 0-2, White 4-5, Skunberg 1-3, Miller 1-2, Waddles 0-1, Dissette 0-1, Burke 1-1); UST (Allen 3-6, Bjorklund 0-2, Blue 3-3, Dobbs 1-1, Anthony 0-3, Nau 0-2, Bjerke 4-5). Assists: NDSU 11 (Skunberg 4); UST 9 (Dobbs 3). Turnovers: NDSU 13 (Miller 3); UST 11 (Anthony 5).