Senior guard Erik Tengwall contributed 16 points and six rebounds as No. 11 St. Thomas pulled out a tense 55-51 road victory over St. Olaf in Wednesday night's MIAC men's basketball play in Northfield.

A crowd of 1,945 – likely the biggest crowd ever to watch a Tommie-Ole game – saw St. Thomas (19-3 overall, 16-1 MIAC) open up a two-game lead atop the conference standings with three games to go.

The Toms won their seventh in a row. With three games left in the race, St. Thomas can clinch a share of the conference title and the top seed for the six-team MIAC playoffs with one victory or one St. Olaf defeat.

The Oles (17-5, 14-3) had a 10-game win streak snapped and lost at home for the first time in nine tries. The Toms pulled out two nailbiter wins in their head-to-head regular-season series with St. Olaf.

The Tommies, who led by eight at halftime, saw their lead reduced to 49-47 in the final 90 seconds. But Ryan Saarela's inside basket with 1:15 to go pushed the lead to 51-47.

The Oles had a chance to tie in the final 10 seconds down 54-51, but a 3-point try rimmed out and a putback missed, forcing a foul of Saarela on the defensive board. He made one of two free throws in the final seconds to push the deficit to four.

UST posted a 37-22 rebounding advantage, including a 12-1 margin on the offensive glass, as Zach Riedeman grabbed a game-high 12.

The Toms missed 3-of-6 free throws in the final minute to keep the game in doubt, but sank 14-of-20 on the game. Conner Nord and Taylor Montero each scored nine points and Marcus Alipate added eight.

Justin Pahl had 13 points and Sterling Nielsen added 10 for St. Olaf.

St. Thomas plays two more tough road games in its next two outings – Saturday at Concordia-Moorhead and Wednesday at Gustavus.