No. 5-ranked St. Thomas Men's Basketball had three players record double doubles, led by Ryan Saarela's career-high 20 points, 13 boards and four blocks, in Saturday afternoon's 77-69 road win over archrival St. John's.

The Tommies (5-1 overall, 1-1 MIAC) recorded a 52-26 rebounding edge, including as 23-6 edge in offensive boards. That led to a 35-5 advantage in second-chance points.

Junior Jimmy Remke had career highs with 16 points and 12 rebounds; Conner Nord added 10 points and 12 rebounds; and Grant Shaeffer had nine points, five assists and five rebounds.

The Johnnies got 33 points from Alex Schmitt, including five 3-pointers and a 14-of-26 shooting line.

Remke's basket and free throw with 8:53 to play tied the game at 58-58 and started a 9-0 run to put UST ahead to stay. The Toms made 8-of-9 free throws in the final 1:07.

St. Thomas, coming off a three-point losss at Gustavus, trailed by three early in the second half but averted a rare MIAC losing streak. UST men's hoops hasn't lost back-to-back MIAC games since January 2005 when it fell on the road 93-91 at Hamline and 90-80 at Gustavus in a three-day span.