Senior center Tommy Hannon had 15 points and the host Tommies celebrated their return to No. 1 in the d3hoops.com national poll with Monday night's 75-64 victory over Bethel in MIAC men's basketball play at Schoenecker Arena.

St. Thomas (21-1 overall, 16-1 MIAC) secured the outright MIAC title and the top seed for the six-team Feb. 19-24 conference playoffs. The Tommies have won or shared eight consecutive conference regular-season crowns. They also improved to 11-0 at home this season.

UST sank 9-of-20 from 3-point range, scored by seven different players. The Toms sank six during the 27-8 run that built a 39-19 lead late in the first half.

Senior Taylor Hall had 20 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks and Kyle Zimmerman scored 19 points for the Royals (12-10, 8-9).

Bethel used a 16-2 run of its own around each side of halftime to climb within 41-35 with 18:49 to play but never got closer.

UST shot 51 percent from the floor, had only two second-half turnovers, and built a 38-11 advantage in bench scoring. Senior Noah Kaiser scored 14 points and sophomore guard Marcus Alipate added 13.

The Toms are 102-3 in the last five seasons in games in which they score 69 or more points.