St. Thomas men’s basketball team rallies to victory over Denver

Nathan Minessale scored five of his 14 points in the final 36 seconds to help St. Thomas rally for a 79-76 victory over Denver on Saturday at Schoenecker Arena.

The Tommies (19-7, 9-2 Summit) remain in second place in the Summit League standings, one game behind Omaha. Omaha (16-10, 10-1) defeated North Dakota State 84-74 in Omaha on Saturday.

Drake Dobbs led St. Thomas in scoring with 21 points.

The Tommies trailed by seven points during the first half but rallied to take a 38-37 lead at halftime.

Denver opened the second half with an 8-0 run to take a 45-38 lead. The Pioneers led by six points, 66-60, with six minutes remaining.

The Tommies tied the game 70-70 on Miles Barnstable’s three-pointer with three minutes left. The Pioneers regained the lead 72-70 before a basket by the Tommies' Kendall Blue tied it with two minutes remaining.

Dobbs scored with one minute remaining to give the Tommies a 74-72 lead, their first lead of the second half.

After the Pioneers tied it with 44 seconds remaining, Minessale’s dunk with 36 seconds remaining gave the Tommies the lead again.

Minessale made one of two free throws with 24 seconds remaining to make it 77-74. The Pioneers got within 77-76 with 17 seconds on a layup by Sebastian Akins before Minessale made two free throws with 13 seconds remaining.

Carter Bjerke scored 13 points and Barnstable 10 points for the Tommies, who shot 57 percent from the field (27-for-47) and made nine of 17 three-point attempts.

Akins led the Pioneers (8-18, 2-9) with 19 points.

The Tommies play host to Omaha on Feb. 15.