Men's Hoops extends MIAC lead with 82-70 win at SMU

W, 82-70
at St. Mary's (M), February 01, 2010

St. Thomas built a 21-point lead and held off a late St. Mary’s rally to outlast the Cardinals 82-70 in MIAC men's basketball play Monday night in Winona.

The win clinched an MIAC playoff berth for the No. 6-ranked  Tommies (18-2 overall, 14-1 MIAC). The victory and Gustavus' 75-70 home loss to Augsburg pushed the Toms' lead to 3 1-2 games with five remaining in the league.

The Tommies, who scored their last 14 points at the foul line, landed four players in double figures, led by Alex Healy’s 21 points. Tyler Nicolai had 15, Teddy Archer a career-high 13 on 6-of-7 shooting, and Sam Eicher 10.

Will Wright had 26 points for SMU.

UST is 7-0 since Healy joined the starting lineup on Jan. 16, and UST has gained 4 1-2 games on the Gusties in the MIAC standings in that 17-day span.

St. Thomas led 44-23 at halftime and maintained that margin at 60-39 at the 12:08 mark. St. Mary’s (7-12, 5-9) trimmed the deficit to seven points inside a minute to go, but the Tommies held off the Cardinals at the free-throw line, hitting 14-of-16 in the last 3:48 (and 20-of-22 for the game).

Healy and Nicolai spurred St. Thomas to a strong start. Healy had 13 points in the first half, including back-to-back 4-point and 3-point plays on breakaway layups and free throws, and Nicolai hit three treys en route to 11 points.

St. Mary’s trailed 26-10 at the 9:44 mark but went on a 7-0 run to cut the margin to nine. St. Thomas answered with a 9-0 run, built on Healy’s seven points. The Tommies shot 61 percent in the first half and held the Cardinals to 45 percent shooting.

St. Thomas is off Wednesday and returns to action at 3 p.m. Saturday against Carleton at the Gangelhoff Center at Concordia-St. Paul.

Click here for box score:

http://www.sidearmstats.com/smumn/mbball/index.htm