Men's basketball rallies but No. 6 UST holds on

Mike Ludwig
December 6, 2008

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The St. Olaf men's basketball team erased a 16-point deficit and tied the game in the second half, but lost a 60-52 decision to sixth-ranked St. Thomas on Saturday afternoon.

Joe Scott had 20 points to lead the Tommies (5-0, 2-0 MIAC), who led by as many as 16 in the first half and by 14 with 16:35 left in the second.

The Oles stormed back behind four three-pointers - one each from Bobby Fong and Stu Neville and two from Joe Weber. Weber's second knotted the game at 45-45 with 9:46 left.

The Tommies then scored the game's next nine points and the lead was never smaller than four.

Nate Kroschell had 11 points to pace the Oles (3-3, 0-2 MIAC) who had 31 points off the bench including nine each from Weber and Neville.

Each of the Oles' three losses have come on the road and two, including the loss to UST, have been to teams ranked in the top ten. The other was a five-point loss at No. 8 Buena Vista University.

St. Olaf hosts Carleton on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

Contact media relations specialist Mike Ludwig at (507) 786-3834 or ludwigm@stolaf.edu.