Junior Burt Hedstrom sank the Tommies' lone 3-point basket of the second half, and it came at the perfect moment.

Hedstrom erased a brief St. Norbert lead with a clutch trey that helped No. 4-ranked St. Thomas outlast the No. 23-ranked Green Knights. 67-60, in Friday's NCAA men's basketball  playoff opener in Platteville, Wis.

SNC (23-5) opened the second half on a 33-14 run to take a stunning 58-57 lead. But Hedstrom answered with a 3-pointer with 3:10 to play to start a game-closing 10-2 St. Thomas run.

Sophomore guard Anders Nelson scored 27 points ---a career postseason best -- as the Tommies (25-3) advanced to Saturday night's second-round game. Nelson sank 5-of-6 free throws in the final 45 seconds.

Hedstrom closed with 14 points and seven boards, Ryan Lindberg scored 10 points and Tommy Anderson scored nine.

The Toms missed their first eight shots from 3-point range in the second half before Hedstrom's clutch trey. The Toms made 10-of-17 behind the arc in the first half.

SNC converted just 1-of-12 behind the arc in the first half, then sank five treys in the second-hlf comeback.

The Purple have been tied or trailed in the second half in each of their last five victories. They now have six wins on the season against teams that havve 18 or more wins.

NOTES: St. Thomas and St. Norbert are the lone nationally-ranked teams to face another ranked team in Friday's opening round. If host Platteville wins in game two over Concordia-Wisconsin, St. Thomas will be the only top-10 ranked team to play another top-10 team on Saturday.