It was the first St. Thomas men's basketball game in 333 days. So naturally the three-ball won the night for Coach John Tauer's team.

Junior guard Riley Miller sank five 3-pointers and scored a game-high 20 points in Wednesday night's season-opening 81-52 Tommie men's basketball road win at Hamline.

This meeting -- St. Thomas' first game since a March 7, 2020 road NCAA playoff win, before Covid erased te end of that season -- was a non-conference clash. These teams will play again Feb. 10 on the St. Thomas home court in the game that counts in the league standings.

St. Thomas never trailed but led just 34-30 at halftime. The Toms outscored the Pipers 48-15 behind the arc, and used a 39-22 rebounding edge to complement their 16 made treys from six different players.

Miller finished two points off his career high. Teammate Ryan Lindberg chipped in 15 points; Anders Nelson added 14 points, five rebounds and three assists; and Burt Hedstrom added 10 points, five boards and five assists.

Jake Larson scored 14 points and Luke Siwek chipped in 13 points for the host Pipers (1-2).

The Toms play two more on the road in the next six days: at Concordia-Moorhead on Saturday afternoon; and at Bethel, a non-conference game next Monday night.