AVE MARIA, Fla. - Thomas erased a 10-point, second-half deficit to win its third-straight game overall, all on the road, and fourth-consecutive over Ave Maria (Fla.), 79-78, on Saturday afternoon in Sun Conference (TSC) action inside Tom Golisano Field House. The Gyrenes fell to 1-9 at home, having lost eight-straight.

"What a game," Night Hawk coach Brent Crews said. "We battled back and played better defense in the second half. A road win in conference is huge however we get it."

Katrell Myers came off the bench to register 17 points for the Night Hawks, going 7-of-9 from the field. JaVoris Cooks ended with 14 points and became the first player in program history to surpass the 1,200-point plateau following his first made basket, a 3 at the 14:15 mark of the first half that put his team ahead 16-8, its largest advantage of the afternoon. Willie Holloway added 10 points on a perfect 5-of-5 clip from inside the arc to go along with six rebounds.

Gianpaolo Riccio and Jovan Grujicic each tallied 23 points in the loss. Riccio, who scored 21 in the first half and was 6-of-6 from the line in the period, had a double-double with 11 rebounds. Grujicic pulled down eight boards. Greenan Sullivan and Nemanja Brankov each scored 12 points, as each player made five shots.

Thomas (8-7, 4-4 TSC) shot 49.3 percent (35-of-71) overall and 7-of-20 from deep, including 50 percent (18-of-36) from the floor and 5-of-9 from beyond the arc after halftime. The Green and White outrebounded Ave Maria (2-16, 0-7 TSC) 39-33, leading to 12 second chance points. The Night Hawks did most of its damage inside, outscoring the Gyrenes 48-22 in the paint. Thomas also got a huge lift from its reserves, outscoring the home team 40-6.

The Gyrenes finished 46 percent (29-of-63) from the floor and 12-of-26 from 3 but were limited to just 38.2 percent (13-of-34) shooting and 33.3 percent (5-of-15) from downtown in the final 20 minutes and a contest that featured six ties and 11 lead changes.

Ave Maria led 45-39 at the break on the strength of 55.2 percent (16-of-29) shooting, including a 63.6 percent (7-of-11) effort from 3, in the first period and increased its upper hand to 10 at the 16:10 mark of the second half after a Sullivan trey, but the Night Hawks whittled away at the deficit over the course of eight minutes, climbing to within one possession, 67-64, following a Holloway layup.

Down 76-68, Thomas responded with an 8-0 spurt to tie the affair with 2:21 left when Myers converted the second of two free throws. After a Grujicic layup on the next trip down the court, the Night Hawks' Javon Heastie answered with a trey, his only basket of the game, with 53 seconds on the clock that proved to be the dagger. Thomas has not trailed in its last two games following a key Heastie 3 down the stretch. 

"Javon has been clutch for us in the closing minutes of the last few games," Crews commented. "Big-time players make big-time shots, and we have several guys capable of doing that. It's just been Javon's turn as of late."

The Night Hawks missed three free throws in the final 25 seconds, but the Gyrenes missed three shots in that stretch, including a full-court heave at the end.

Thomas hosts Reinhardt (Ga.) on Tuesday, Jan. 9, in its final non-conference tilt of the regular season. Tip-off inside TU Gymnasium is set for 5:30 p.m. ET.