Box Score
 
BABSON PARK, Fla. – The Thomas University men's basketball team suffered its second loss of the season tonight on the road.  With 2.7 seconds remaining on the clock, Webber International's Brian Pace split two Thomas defenders to lay the decisive basket in the net for the 72-70 defeat and upset over the twentieth ranked Night Hawks.
 
The opening half of the contest was met with hard pressed defense by the Night Hawks that, in time, was evaded by WIU.  The Warriors opened with an early 6-2 lead and built on that spread over the first half.  While the Night Hawks temporarily had the Warriors within their grasp, WIU continued pressuring TU causing turnovers on the offensive end of the floor.
 
Thomas faced a 40-36 deficit heading into the intermission.  After halftime, the Warriors expanded their growing lead to a height of 11 (52-41) with just under 15 minutes left in the contest.
 
The Night Hawks paced their potential comeback tying the contest at 68 with 1:35 remaining.  The Hunter Green and White gained their first lead since 9:24 remaining in the first half when Rodney Sturkie stole the ball from Pace and netted a fast break layup.  With 55 seconds remaining in regulation, Jovany Deceus hammered down a monster dunk to even the contest at 70.  In the closing seconds, a break down in the Night Hawks' defensive coverage, leading to Pace's eventual game winning basket, and an erred inbounds pass for a final heave attempt led the Warriors to their upset victory over No. 20 Thomas.
 
Senior Alan Love picked up his third double-double of the season netting 15 points while bring down 11 boards.  Love's other double-double performances came in victories against Pensacola Christian (Nov. 1) and Coastal Georgia (Dec. 16).  Sturkie also contributed a season high 15 points, four assists, and three rebounds in the losing effort while Javoris Cooks added 10 points to the contest.
 
"Tonight's loss stings. It's hard to win on the road," stated head coach Stephen Cox.  "I need to do a better job coaching, and our guys need to play better. I'm proud of them for being down by 10 late in second half and staying with it."
 
Thomas drops to 11-2, 2-1 in TSC play, on the season while the Warriors improve to 5-10, 2-1 on the year.
 
Cox continued, "We did not turn the ball over as much in second half.  Being said, we need to do a better job on the defensive end of the floor to be good in this conference. Conversely, I did see spurts of some good things, and now we have to get ready for a good Warner team at home this weekend."
 
The Night Hawks return to action on Saturday, Jan. 10 when they host Sun Conference rival Warner University at the TU Gymnasium. Tipoff is set for 3:00 p.m.
 
For up-to-date information on this game and other TU Athletics, visit http://www.TUNightHawks.com.  Stay up-to-date with news, scores, photos, game summaries, play-by-play, and feature stories of your TU men's basketball team by following them via Twitter at @NightHawksMBKB.