John Nance and Zach Riedeman each scored 15 points and No. 2-ranked St. Thomas shot 55 percent from the field in Wednesday night's 74-52 victory over host Carleton in MIAC men's basketball play in Northfield.

The Tommies (19-1 overall, 14-1 MIAC) secured an MIAC playoff berth for the 25th time in 26 seasons and extended their lead atop the conference standings to 3 1-2 games over idle Augsburg.

Seven different players had one 3-pointer for the Tommies, who had only 11 turnovers and posted a 38-19 rebounding advantage. Noah Kaiser returned after an eight-game injury layoff and Erik Tengwall was back after missing the last two games. St. Thomas used a 29-7 advantage in bench points to pull away.

The Toms used a late 14-2 run after the Knights had climbed within 57-45.

Carleton had four players score in double figures led by Scott Theisen with 12 points.

St. Thomas plays Saturday at second-place Augsburg (3 p.m.).