THOMASVILLE, Ga. - Thomas concludes a three-game home stand in Sun Conference (TSC) play Saturday against No. 24 Warner (Fla.). Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. ET.
In addition to live stats, the match will be televised online through Night Hawks Television. Updates will also be available on Thomas' official men's basketball Twitter account (@NightHawksMBKB).
Saturday's game is sponsored by Stony Creek Landscaping and Irrigation, which started in 1996 and has grown from a single man operation to a company with over 30 employees. Licensed and insured, Stony Creek strives to tailor their services to your specific lawn care needs.
Game 11/#24 Warner (8-3, 3-1 TSC) at Thomas (4-6, 1-3 TSC)
Saturday, Dec. 9 • 4 p.m. ET
Thomasville, Ga. • TU Gymnasium
TV:Â Night Hawks Television
Live Stats:Â TUNightHawks.com
Twitter Updates:Â @NightHawksMBKB
Series History:Â Thomas trails 3-6 (Thomas lost last 5)
Record at Thomas:Â 1-3
Record at Warner:Â 2-2
Record at Neutral Site:Â 0-1
Coach Brent Crews vs. Warner: 0-5
ABOUT THOMAS
The Night Hawks are coming off an 85-72 loss to No. 22 Saint Thomas (Fla.) on Dec. 2 in TU Gymnasium in league play.
JaVoris Cooks finished with 19 points for the Night Hawks, but Saint Thomas (Fla.) shot 14-of-15 from the free throw line in the second half.
Trailing by seven, Thomas used a 9-0 run to take its first lead, 16-14, following anÂ
Ivan Tomic jumper at the 13:21 mark of the first half, but Saint Thomas took a 33-30 lead into halftime after a Khalil Williams jumper. Williams scored six of his team's final nine points in the period and finished the game with 17 on 8-of-13 shooting.
Leading 46-42 with 11:56 remaining in the game, the Bobcats used a 14-5 spurt over the next 4:27 to open up a 13-point advantage on a Fotios Malelis 3-pointer, and the visitors led by double digits during the final 6:15.
Cooks was 6-of-12 from the field, including 5-of-10 from 3-point range, to go along with seven rebounds.Â
Keion Peoples andÂ
Jalen Bonds each scored 14 points off the bench. Bonds also had eight rebounds, including six on the offensive glass.
Thomas shot 45 percent (27-of-60) from the field, 8-of-25 from 3-point range and 10-of-17 from the charity stripe.Â
Each team shot 51.6 percent (16-of-31) overall in the final 20 minutes.
The Night Hawks held an edge in rebounds (37-35), points in the paint (34-24), points off turnovers (17-10), second chance points (16-12) and bench scoring (41-29).Â
ABOUT WARNER
The Royals are coming off an 87-57 exhibition loss at Rollins (Fla.), a NCAA Division II member, on Tuesday.
Rollins led by just seven at halftime before outscoring the Royals 48-25 in the second half.
Warner was led by 13 points from Melton Sanders. Kahlil Ozuna scored 10, and Andrew Lamb added nine.Â
Long stretches of scoreless basketball dominated the first half as both team's offenses slowly got going. Rollins led by as many as six before back-to-back dunks from Lamb closed the Tars lead to 14-12 with 10:15 in the half.Â
Christian Munson highlighted a mini-Tars run with a three-pointer at the 4:21 mark, and Blake Admire later pushed the lead to 39-27 with 1:24 to play in the half.Â
Warner scored the last five points of the half to close to within 39-32 at the break.Â
A Daniel Loh dunk early in the first started what would become a domination of the final 20-minutes by the Tars. Consecutive 3-pointers with 14 minutes to play pushed the Tars lead to 54-37 and led to a 26-2 run that blew the game open.Â
Parker Davis hit from deep to give Rollins an 83-48 lead, its largest of the game, with five minutes left.
Warner was just 4-of-31 from beyond the arc and 36 percent (23-64) from the field. The Tars won the battle on the boards, outrebounding the Royals 49-32.
Warner leads NAIA Division II in assist/turnover ratio (1.8) and ranks seventh in scoring defense per game (69.5), 10th in scoring margin (15.7) and 13th in turnover margin (3.6).
Nick Macon is fourth nationally in assists per game (7.1) and 10th in steals per game (2.4) for the Royals. Lamb is 12th in blocks per game (1.7).
LAST TIME OUT AGAINST THE ROYALS
No. 6-seed Thomas lost at No. 2-seed and 10th-ranked Warner, 84-83, on Feb. 27, 2017, in the semifinals of The Sun Conference Championship, sponsored by Commerce Bank.
Warner converted a free throw with 0.9 second left in the game after Thomas' Katrell Myers tied the game at 83 with 26 seconds leftÂ
Cooks led Thomas with 28 points, while Willie Holloway had nine rebounds. T.J. Rines provided 16 points, while Tre Ford added 13 points and five assists.
Ford knocked down two 3-pointers that gave Thomas a 14-8 lead early in the game. Warner went on a 9-0 run and took a 22-19 lead before Rines knocked down a 3 and tied the game at 22. Waren Hall made a jumper that put Warner ahead 39-32 with 20 seconds left in the first half. Cooks converted three free throws that cut the Royals lead to 39-35 at halftime.
Warner opened the second half on a 12-5 run and pushed its lead out to 51-40. The Night Hawks responded with a 15-2 run, as Cooks gave his squad a 58-57 lead on an and-one. The Royals then went on a 12-0 run and took back the lead at 69-58 with less than 10 minutes to play.
Thomas answered with an 11-2 run and cut the deficit to 71-69. Ford made 1-of-2 free throws that kept the game at a possession at 75-72 with four and a half to play. Thomas then went on a 9-2 spurt, including a 3 from Cooks, that put the Night Hawks ahead 81-79 with a minute and a half left. Myers tied the game at 83, but Josh Ellis made 1-of-2 free throws with 0.9 seconds remaining.Â
Thomas shot 50.9 percent (28-of-55) from the floor, including 50 percent (13-of-26) from deep, and 73.7 percent (14-of-19) from the free throw line.
TIP-INS
- Cooks averaged 16.0 points in three games against the Royals last season.
- Peoples has averaged 16.0 points in his last three contests.
- Three of the Night Hawks last four losses in the series have been by just one point.Â
- Thomas ranks 35th in NAIA Division II in offensive rebounds per game (12.0).
- Cooks ranks third in the country in 3-point field goals made per game (3.7).
- Thomas is 3-0 this season when scoring 83 points or more.
- The Night Hawks are 3-1 when Ginnie scores 17 or more points.
- In the Oct. 27 season-opener at Point (Ga.), Cooks moved past former teammate Adanoi Rogers at the 16:47 mark of the first half on a trey to become the school's all-time leading scorer.
- Also on Oct. 27, Cooks became the program's first member of the 1,000-point club following two made free throws with 1:13 left in the second half. He now has 1,142Â career points.
- Cooks' 15 3-point attempts on Nov. 11 against Talladega (Ala.) are the most by any TSC player in a game this season.
- Thomas faces three ranked opponents - No. 11 Southeastern (Fla.), No. 22 Saint Thomas and No. 24 Warner - and one that is receiving votes - Keiser (Fla.) - in the latest NAIA Division II Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25. The Night Hawks lost at the Seahawks on Nov. 16 and to the Bobcats on Dec. 2.
- Thomas' Demetrius Rivers is redshirting this season and will have four seasons of eligibility remaining.
