THOMASVILLE, Ga. - Thomas resumes Sun Conference (TSC) play Thursday at No. 10 Saint Thomas (Fla.) at 7:30 p.m. ET.
In addition to live stats, the contest will be televised online through Stretch Internet. Updates will also be available on Thomas' official men's basketball Twitter account (@NightHawksMBKB).
Game 20/Thomas (9-10, 4-7 TSC) at #10 Saint Thomas (16-5, 9-1 TSC)
Thursday, Jan. 25 • 7:30 p.m. ET
Miami Gardens, Fla. • Fernandez Family Center
TV: Stretch Internet
Live Stats: Stretch Internet
Twitter Updates:Â @NightHawksMBKB
Series History:Â Thomas trails 4-7Â (Thomas lost last game)
Record at Thomas:Â 1-4
Record at Saint Thomas:Â 3-3
Record at Neutral Site:Â 0-0
Coach Brent Crews vs. Saint Thomas: 3-3
ABOUT THOMAS
The Night Hawks are coming off a 77-74 TSC loss to then-No. 25 Keiser (Fla.) on Jan. 20 inside TU Gymnasium.
A 3-pointer with 0.1 seconds remaining allowed Keiser (Fla.) to escape TU Gymnasium with the win.
JaVoris Cooks andÂ
Katrell Myers netted 15 points, five rebounds and three assists apiece for Thomas. Cooks was 4-of-8 from deep.Â
Willie Holloway,Â
Johnnel Ginnie andÂ
Javon Heastie each scored eight points. Holloway was a perfect 4-of-4 from within six feet of the basket to go along with eight boards and a career-high five rejections. Myers and Heastie combined for 23 of their team's 33 bench points.Â
Demetrius Rivers andÂ
Jalen Bonds had seven and six rebounds, respectively.
The Night Hawks were 40 percent (28-of-70) from the floor, 9-of-25 from 3 and 9-of-13 from the stripe. Crews' squad held a slight edge in rebounds (40-37), points in the paint (32-30), points off turnovers (14-10) and second chance points (11-10) in a game that featured nine ties and 10 lead changes.
Keiser used an 11-1 run in a 2:52 span of the first half, going 3-of-3 on triples, to grab its largest lead of the day, 23-14, but down eight, Thomas answered with a 12-0 spurt, as a Heastie bucket from distance gave his squad a 28-24 edge at the 4:53 mark of the first period. A Myers trey increased the margin to five 1:29 later, as he scored his team's last seven points of the half, including two free throws with less than a second on the clock, to give the Night Hawks a 37-35 lead at the break.
Cooks opened the second-half scoring with a 3, increasing the difference to five.Â
A back-and-forth game ensued. Following a Seahawk fastbreak dunk at the 15:25 mark, Myers drove the lane and threw down a slam over a Seahawk that knocked him to the ground and brought the crowd to its feet.
A Keiser trey gave its team a 68-61 lead with 4:25 left, but the Night Hawks later trimmed the margin to one, 70-69, following consecutive layups by Rivers and Ginnie. AnÂ
Ivan Tomic steal and layup with 50 seconds to go again kept Thomas within a point, and after a Seahawk jumper, Myers found Ginnie in the corner for his only 3-pointer of the game, which tied the game at 74 with 15.8 seconds showing.
Following the Keiser make, the Night Hawks were unable to get off a potential game-tying shot before time expired.
ABOUT SAINT THOMAS
The Bobcats are coming off a 79-71 TSC win at Florida Memorial on Jan. 20, their seventh-straight victory overall.
Timothy Sada scored a team-high 16 points on four 3-pointers in the win.Â
Raheem Bowman posted his 10th double-double of the season (10 points and 14 rebounds).Â
Mikon Hewitt recorded 11 points, a game-high seven steals and three assists.Â
Darwin Trotman and
Mikhail Rolle each scored 10 points.
Saint Thomas ranks sixth in NAIA Division II in steals (207) and 11th in assists per game (17.6).
Sada is third nationally in 3-point field goals made (71). Bowman is 15th in rebounds (191).
LAST TIME OUT AGAINST THE BOBCATS
Thomas lost at home to then-No. 22 Saint Thomas, 85-72, on Dec. 2 in league play.
Cooks finished with 19 points, but Saint Thomas 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 an 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.
Kamil Brown led five Bobcats in double figures with 19 points. Malelis and Sada each chipped in 13.
Williams was one of two players off the bench in double figures. Antoine Joe had 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting from deep.
Cooks was 6-of-12 from the field, including 5-of-10 from 3-point range, to go along with seven rebounds. Keion Peoples and Jalen Bonds each scored 14 points off the bench. Bonds also had eight rebounds, including six on the offensive glass.
Saint Thomas shot 48.4 percent (30-of-62) from the floor, 10-of-25Â from beyond the arc and 15-of-17 from the line.
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
TIP-INS
- Cooks, the leading scorer in program history, has totaled 1,256Â points.
- The Night Hawks are 2-2Â against ranked teams this season, including 1-0 against the Top 10.
- The Green and White are 4-0Â this season when allowing 66 points or fewer.
- Thomas ranks 21st in NAIA Division II in offensive rebounds per game (12.4), 36th in field goal percentage defense (0.433) and 38th in scoring defense per game (74.7).
- Cooks ranks eighth in the country in 3-point field goals made per game (3.3). Holloway is 38th in blocks per game (1.2).
- Thomas is 4-1Â this season when scoring 83 points or more.
- The Night Hawks are 3-1 when Ginnie scores 17 points or more.
- 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.Â
- Cooks' 15 3-point attempts on Nov. 11 against Talladega (Ala.), a NAIA Division I member, are tied for the most by any TSC player in a game this season.
- Thomas faces three ranked opponents - No. 10 Saint Thomas, No. 19 Keiser and No. 23 Warner (Fla.) - and one that is receiving votes - Southeastern - in the latest NAIA Division II Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25. The Night Hawks defeated the Royals on Dec. 9 and won at the Fire on Jan. 4 but lost at the Seahawks on Nov. 16 and to them Jan. 20, to the Bobcats on Dec. 2 at the Mariners on Jan. 13.
- Thomas' Marcus Louis, Adrian Sims, Shaquille Holley and Cedric Wright are sitting out this season. Louis and Sims will each have four seasons of eligibility remaining, while Holley and Wright will each have two.
