Forward John Nance scored 15 points as St. Thomas rallied from its first loss of the season at Concordia-Moorhead Monday, beating St. Mary’s 87-46 at Schoenecker Arena Wednesday night.

Coach John Tauer said the mentality of the team was to go back to the basics after the loss.

“We just wanted to get back to playing really good, sound basketball,” Tauer said. “We wanted to come out and really focus on our principles and do what we do well.”

The No. 1-ranked Tommies (17-1 overall, 12-1 MIAC) pushed their home-winning streak to eight with the victory. This is the Cardinals’ (3-15 overall, 2-11 MIAC) third-straight loss.

The Tommies scored 45 first half points, which is only seven less than the 52 St. Thomas scored in Monday’s loss.

Captain guard Will DeBerg scored 13 points and dished out four assists.

DeBerg said the team learned a lot after the tough loss to the Cobbers.

“That loss refocused us,” DeBerg said. “We can learn from it and get better from it and that’s what we were trying to do tonight, refocus and play the way we’re capable of.”

In the first half, the Tommies held the Cardinals to only 23 total points and forced them to only 34 percent from the field. St. Thomas shot a strong 65 percent in the opening frame.

Points in the paint were a contributing factor as the Tommies scored 26 of their 45 first half points down on the blocks.

Coach Tauer said there was a variety of players that stepped up defensively.

“Our guards and post really rose to the challenge,” Tauer said. “Our guys take pride in that.”

St. Thomas’ defense and offense didn’t let St. Mary’s gain an ounce of hope during the second half, as the Tommies stormed out of the gates scoring the first eight points, which included a 3-pointer and layup by guard Marcus Alipate.

The Tommies tenacious defense also pressured the Cardinals to turn the ball over 13 times in the second half. Off these 13 hiccups, they scored 16 points.

Nance, who scored six points in the second half, said the offense did a great job on dishing the ball off to each other.

“We shared the ball, and I think the last game guys tried to do too much and tried to take over,” Nance said. “We got a bunch of great guys, and if we just share the ball and pass it around, we could do great things.”

St. Thomas starters scored 57 of the teams 87 total points with center Tommy Hannon chipping in 12 points, forward Zach Riedeman contributing 10, and Alipate adding seven.

Nance said this performance showed what this team was all about even after Monday’s defeat.

“We wanted to respond and the 40-point win will send a message around the league,” Nance said.

Jesse Krull can be reached at krul7386@stthomas.edu.