Senior All-American Tyler Nicolai scored 10 of his 16 points in the second half and the visiting Tommies secured an MIAC playoff berth with Wednesday night's 75=66 men's basketball win at St. Mary's.

No. 7-ranked St. Thomas (18-2 overall, 13-2 MIAC) still leads Carleton by 1.5 games atop the conference standings, with Gustavus now three back with five games remaining. The Toms are in the playoffs for the 23rd time in 24 seasons.

Nicolai canned five points to fuel a 14-4 run that put the Toms ahead 68-61 with 1:14 left. St. Thomas missed 7-of-14 free throws in the first 38:30 but converted 7-of-8 foul shots in the final 1:03.

UST only had 12 turnovers. Alex Healy scored 18 points and Tommy Hannon added 10 points. Teddy Archer added eight points, five assists and five steals, and Brady Ervin chipped in six rebounds, four steals and three assists.

Senior Will Wright had a game-high 23 points for the Cardinals.

St. Thomas again defied the law of averages as it managed to post its 47th consecutive victory against St. Mary's since a January 1988 loss in Winona,.

It was the 11th win this season for UST when it trailed or was tied in the second half.

The Tommies are idle Saturday and play second-place Carleton next Wednesday in Northfield.

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