For the second consecutive season, the Falcons men's basketball team has knocked off the defending national champions at Karges Center. The No. 21 ranked Falcons put an end to St. Thomas' 14-game winning streak as they dominated the Tommies 79-64 in the home opener.
 
After five early lead changes, the Tommies held the lead for nearly 11 minutes in the first half. That came to an end as Brian Kimble (Stevenson Ranch, CA, Coll. of Canyons JC) found Shane Manor (Altoona, WI, UW-Superior) for an alley-oop dunk to tie the score at 24-24. Wade Guerin (Bloomington, MN, St. Croix Lutheran HS) put the Falcons ahead at the 4:20 mark of the first half with an easy layup after Chris Palmer (Faribault, MN, St. Mary's University) grabbed the offensive board. The Falcons never trailed again to the team that holds the 2011 NCAA Div.III National Championship trophy as they cruised to their third straight victory.
 
Manor led all scorers with 22 points, the seventh 20-point game of his career in a River Falls uniform.  The senior missed just one shot, shooting 9/10 from the field before getting into foul trouble midway through the 2^nd half.
 
Manor is averaging 18.7 points per game thus far in the 2011 season while shooting 60-percent and will increase both those numbers as he poured in one of the best offensive games of his career. This includes sitting out for over six minutes late in the second half before returning for Guerin, who received a standing ovation from the Karges Center crowd. Guerin finished with 14 points, seven rebounds, five assists, and two steals.
 
Guerin took over the game down the stretch. With 7:38 at to go, he forced a steal at midcourt and took it all the way before slamming it home, bringing the crowd to their feet and increasing the lead to 11. Moments later he made it a 15-point game as he grabbed another offensive board and added another bucket plus the foul.
 
The Falcons controlled the game with sharp-shooting, crisp passing and refusing to lose. They had their best shooting night in 17 games as they hit nearly 60-percent of their shots.  The 19 team assists is the most since 1/5/11 against Stout when they had 21. They took advantage of the Tommie mishaps, scoring 22 points off 15 turnovers, and added  16 second-chance points.

"It was a great team effort tonight. We executed our game plan," said Falcon Head Coach Jeff Berkhof, "One of the keys was to handle their pressure and our guards did that."
 
St. Thomas added the first bucket of the second half to cut the lead to two, but that would be as close as they would come, being outscored 43-32 in the second half.  
 
The only other threat by the reigning National Champions was at the 16:33 mark as they trailed by six. A loose ball under the Falcon net, was knocked out by the Tommies, giving the ball back to the Falcons.  Guerin made them pay the price as he hit a three-pointer, while a foul away from the play allowed the Falcons to retain possession.  Moments later, Ethan Thomforde (Apple Valley, MN, Augustana College) found a streaking Manor underneath the hoop for an easy layup to put the Falcons lead back into double-digits.
 
Taylor Peterson (Roselle, IL, Conant HS) put the dagger in the heart of the Tommies as he connected on a three-pointer with 4:31 to play to increase the lead to 17 points.  Also putting up double digits for the Falcons were Palmer and Ollie White (Minnetrista, MN, Mound-Westonka HS). Palmer had 11 points and six rebounds. While White had 10 points, four rebounds and two steals.
 
The Falcons continue their dominance at home, now winning 13 of the last 14 at Karges Center.  The last time the Falcons defeated St. Thomas was in 2003 as they had lost in each of the last seven seasons against the Tommies.
 
Last season, the Falcons knocked off defending National Champions UW-Stevens Point to propel a school-best 15-game winning streak. Tuesday's victory gives the Falcons three straight wins as they improve to 3-1 on the season. The Falcons will head out west for the holidays as they visit Pacific Lutheran (Wash.) on Friday and Puget Sound (Wash.) on Saturday.
 
Tipoff is at 10:00 P.M. on Friday at Pacific Lutheran.

Box Score