Box Score

Fallin's Barbeque Postgame Report - Florida Memorial

THOMASVILLE, Ga. - Thomas' Eric Johnson celebrated his birthday Thursday. More importantly, the Night Hawks celebrated a win.

Keion Peoples poured in 17 points off the bench for a second-consecutive game, helping propel the Green and White to a 60-58 victory over Florida Memorial in Sun Conference (TSC) action. Thomas (4-5, 1-1 TSC), which has won six of its last seven home games, improves to 4-1 all-time against the Lions inside TU Gymnasium while ending a five-game skid overall.

"Defensively, we played a heck of a game," Green and White coach Brent Crews said. "These are the type of games I like to play in - hard, grind-it-out defensive games."

The Night Hawks used an 11-0 run to take a 16-4 lead midway through the first half following a D.J. Roulhac layup. A Eugene Harvey jumper at the 6:54 mark brought the Lions within a basket at 19-17. Thomas stretched its advantage back to nine with 2:56 left before halftime, but a Davon Williams trey trimmed the Night Hawks' edge at the break to 31-30.

Two Willie Holloway two-handed, alley-oop dunks in the first 3:30 of the second half helped maintain Thomas' edge until the Lions used a 6-0 spurt in less than three minutes to grab a 41-36 lead with 13:50 to play. 

With his team trailing by six at the 11:37 mark, Peoples scored four of the Night Hawks next six points to knot the contest at 45. Following two ties, JaVoris Cooks canned a 3 from the corner to put the Green and White ahead 52-49 with 5:02 to go. A Williams layup two minutes later put his team back in front, 55-54, but five-straight points by Peoples, starting with two made free throws at the 1:40 mark, helped seal the Night Hawks' third-straight win at home.

Peoples finished 5-of-10 shooting and 7-of-9 from the line.

"It was a team win," Peoples said. "Everybody came in and bought into what we had to do. We stayed focused, believed and came out with a good victory."

Holloway and Johnnel Ginnie each added eight points. Cooks and Jalen Bonds each tallied seven points.

Ginnie pulled down eight boards, while Holloway had seven. Peoples, Johnson and Jakari Bush each dished out three assists.

"We had to get stops tonight," Johnson said. "Coach Crews is a very passionate coach. His passion and energy rub off on us."

Williams ended with 23 points off the bench on 10-of-16 shooting, including a 3-of-5 effort from deep, to go along with six rebounds. Travis Mitchell had 17 points, with four of his five made baskets coming from behind the arc, in the loss. 

Thomas shot 42 percent (21-of-50) from the floor and converted more free throws (15) than Florida Memorial attempted (12). The Night Hawks outscored the visitors in the paint, 34-22.

Florida Memorial shot 39 percent (23-of-59) overall.

Each team had 39 rebounds. 

Thomas hosts No. 22 Saint Thomas (Fla.) on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET.