Tyler Nicolai sank a career-best seven 3-pointers and scored a season-best 27 points and the visiting Tommies scored 53 points in the second half to post a 72-61 win over St. John's in MIAC men's basketball play in Collegeville.

The Tommies (22-3 overall, 17-3 MIAC) shared the conference title with Carleton -- the sixth year in a row that Coach Steve Fritz had a champion or co-champion MIAC team. It's the first time in 57 seasons that a men's program has won six consecutive conference titles.

UST closed the game with a 7-0 run. Tommy Hannon scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half. Alex Healy had 11 points and added eight rebounds, and Brady Ervin had 10 points off the bench. In the final 20:00, the Tommies shot 57 percent from the floor and had no turnovers.

The Johnnies (14-11, 10-10) were outscored 27-6 from 3-point range in their season-ending loss. They tied for sixth place with the Cobbers and Auggies but lost the playoff tiebreaker to Concordia-Moorhead.

St. Thomas plays Friday in the playoff semifinals at 7:30 p.m. against either the Nos. 3-4-5-6 seeds Hamline, St. Olaf, Gustavus or Concordia.

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