Sophomore guard Ryan Lindberg scored 18 points and host St. Thomas had only eight turnovers in Saturday's 87-64 home men's basketball win over St. Mary's in Schoenecker Arena.

The Tommies (14-1 overall, 10-0 MIAC) ran their win streak to 14 and improved to 8-0 at home this season. Coach John tauer's team moved alone into the MIAC lead with its victory plus St. John's 66-63 road loss to Carleton.

The 20-game conference race is at the halfway point. St. Thomas and St. John's play Monday night at Schoenecker Arena, and Tommies hold a one-game lead on the Johnnies and a three-game edge on third-place Augsburg.

Eli Cave scored a game-high 19 points for St. Mary's (6-11, 2-10). The Cardinals fell behind 18-5 and 27-8 before using a 22-7 run to trim the Tommie lead to 34-30 with 2:18 to play in the first half.

Lindberg's 3-point basketball capped a 7-2 run to end the half with the Toms up 41-32. The Purple started the second half with a 15-4 run to take control.