The St. Thomas men’s basketball team went into this week with hopes for the Summit League regular-season championship.
After two losses on the road, those hopes look pretty dim.
Last-place Oral Roberts made nine of 10 free throws in the final 25 seconds to hold off St. Thomas 71-66 on Saturday in Tulsa, Okla.
St. Thomas is 1½ games behind Nebraska Omaha, which beat South Dakota 93-85 Saturday to clinch a share of the conference title. The Mavericks are 12-3 in conference play and can win it outright with a victory in their final game, next Saturday at home against Oral Roberts.
The Tommies (20-9, 10-4 Summit), who lost 85-80 at South Dakota on Wednesday, led by seven points early in the second half, but the Golden Eagles (7-20, 3-11) rallied to take a 62-54 lead with 3 minutes, 24 seconds remaining.
The Tommies got within 62-60 with 29 seconds remaining before Jalen Miller made six free throws and Issac McBride made three as the Golden Eagles ended a four-game losing streak.
For the game, the Golden Eagles made 18 of 22 free throws.
Nathan Minessale scored seven of his team-high 17 points in the final 29 seconds to help the Tommies stay close.
