TOMMIES HOLD OFF JACKRABBITS

Thursday, January 22

St. Paul, Minn.

8 p.m.

South Dakota State University

10-11,3-3Summit League

St. Thomas

16-5,5-1Summit League

South Dakota St.

St. Thomas (MN)

Joe Sayler

Photo by: Andrew Pedersen

1/22/2026 10:58:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Andrew Pedersen

ST. PAUL – South Dakota State led for over 21 minutes and had a one-point advantage with less than three minutes to play, but St. Thomas did enough late to claim a 74-69 victory over the Jackrabbits in Lee & Penny Anderson Arena on Thursday.

The Jackrabbits had as large of a nine-point edge, up 19-10, in the first half before a 12-0 scoring run for the Tommies put the hosts ahead 22-10. The matchup followed that trend throughout.

SDSU eventually used another seven-point scoring stretch to briefly re-take the lead. A Joe Sayler jumper put the Jacks up 32-30 with less than a minute to go in the first half, however St. Thomas' Carter Bjerke knocked down a 3-pointer before the buzzer to give the Tommies the 33-32 lead at the halftime break.

The Jacks held the Tommies to just 37.5% shooting in the second half. St. Thomas connected on six 3-pointers, compared to SDSU's two, in the opening 20 minutes. The Tommies were also 9-for-10 at the charity stripe, while the Jackrabbits were just 2 of 8.

SDSU held the early advantage in the second half and jumped out to a 58-50 lead following a pair of Bubz Alvarez free throws with 11:14 remaining.

The Tommies responded quickly. They went on a 10-0 run in a span of less than three minutes to jump back in front. The two sides stayed within a possession of one another over the next six minutes of action.

A Jaden Jackson 3-pointer at the 2:34 mark put the Jackrabbits ahead 68-67. That'd be SDSU's last field goal of the night.

Nick Janowski converted on two free throws and Bjerke followed up two offensive rebounds with a putback layup to give St. Thomas a 71-68 edge with 1:18 left. The Jackrabbits had an opportunity to tie the score, but a missed field goal attempt thwarted any late SDSU rally as the Tommies iced the game at the free throw line.

The matchup featured 16 lead changes and eight tie scores over the course of 40 minutes.

St. Thomas earned its 28th straight home victory to improve to 16-5 overall (5-1 Summit League). The Jackrabbits fell to 10-11 overall and 3-3 in conference play.

St. Thomas finished the contest with four players in double digits. Bjerke and Janowski scored 21 points apiece for the Tommies. Both teams shot 46% from the field, however St. Thomas took advantage at the charity stripe going 18 of 24 (75%).

Sayler had 17 points in the first half and finished with a game-high 24 for South Dakota State. He was joined in double digits by Matthew Mors (12) and Damon Wilkinson (10). Alvarez scored a season-high nine points. Wilkinson had a game-high seven rebounds and Jackson had a career-high seven assists. Both Mors and Alvarez had three steals each.

UP NEXT
South Dakota State continues its stretch of games on the road next Wednesday. The Jackrabbits travel to Omaha to take on the Mavericks in Baxter Arena. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m.

-GoJacks.com-