ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Hamline men's basketball team (5-16, 3-13 MIAC) dropped a Wednesday night contest with #4 St. Thomas (18-2, 14-1 MIAC) by a score of 84-68. This was the second time that the Pipers took on a top-five nationally ranked team in the past week, as they faced #2 Saint John's last Saturday.
 
Junior Michael Dillon was on fire for HU in the game, hitting six of seven (85.7%) from the field and all five of his attempts from deep. He ended with a team-high 17 points, while also picking up three rebounds, two assists, and a block.
 
Sophomore Luke Siwek joined Dillon in double figures, finishing with 15 points, five rebounds, and three assists.
 
Six other Pipers added to the scoring efforts, with three different players ending with nine points each. Senior Lucas Berg went 5-5 from the free throw line on the way to his nine points and sophomore Andrew Jackson shot 50.0% (4-8) and made a free-throw to tally his nine. First year Conner Krenos made three of five from downtown to earn his nine, while also adding two assists and a steal.
 
The Pipers shot a solid 51.1% in the game, but the Tommies countered with a 60.8% field goal percentage. HU did hold the edge in three-point percentage (50%-40%), but each team drained 10 on the night. St. Thomas also took advantage of Hamline turnovers, scoring 19 points off of these mistakes.
 
After the first 11 minutes of play, the Tommies held a 22-15 lead. The Pipers would score 10 of the next 12 points, however, to take over a lead at 25-24. Dillon hit two threes in this span and Siwek and junior Trey Prince added jumpers. St. Thomas used a seven-point run later in the half to take a 42-32 lead into the break.
 
Hamline opened the second half on a 6-2 run with threes from Dillon and Krenos, but that would be as close as they would get, as the Tommies would hold onto a double-digit lead for the majority of the rest of the half.
 
Anders Nelson shot an incredible 92.3% (12-13) in the game to lead the Tommies with 33 points.
 
The Pipers will return to Hutton Arena for their next game, taking on Augsburg on Wednesday, February 12 at 7:00 p.m.