Bench comes up big in home win for No. 18 Tommies

More news about: St. Thomas

The UST men's basketball team pulled away in the final 10 minutes for a 68-53 win over Augsburg in a battle of conference co-leaders at Schoenecker Arena. Will DeBerg had 15 points off the bench for the No. 18-ranked Tommies (8-3, 5-1), who snapped a two-game losing streak.

Freshman Conner Nord had 11 points and 10 rebounds for his first colegiate double-double, and freshman Marcus Alipate scored 11 points off the bench for UST, which improved to 4-0 at home this season.

St. Thomas had only 12 turnovers, converted 15-of-17 at the foul line, and had a 34-11 advantage in bench points.

Cory Polta had 12 points, 11 rebounds, six blocks and four assists, and Tyler Schmidt scored 15 points for the Auggies (7-4, 4-2).

Alipate his two 3-pointers to fuel a 13-3 second-half run that pushed the lead to 54-37 with just under 8:00 left to play.

The Toms, who lead St. Olaf by one-half game in the MIAC race, play Wednesday night at Carleton.

Click here for box score:

http://www.tommiesports.com/mbb/stats/1-7-mbb.htm