Marietta, Ga- The Thomas University Men's Basketball saw their chances of picking up the early season win slip away late in the game, after falling to the Eagles' of Life University on Friday night.
The Night Hawks (0-1) were able to make a statement early in the first half, after holding Life University (1-0) scoreless for nearly five minutes. The scoreless spree helped the Green and White jump to a 11-2 lead. Eventually, Life U saw a chance to redeem themselves at the charity stripe. Additionally, it did not take the Eagles long to settle back in with a layup and three pointer to cut the Night Hawks lead.
The Night Hawks answered back to the quick challenge from Life University with a three pointer from Junior Deonta Jones. Thomas started to capitalize on minor mistakes from Life U by forcing a few turnovers and several misses from the Eagles' before heading into the half.
In the second half of play, both teams returned to the court with Senior Toriano Lewis scoring the first three pointer of the second half; before the Eagles responded with the same shot just a few seconds later. Thomas continued to show fight to expand their small lead of eight with two good free throws from Fifth Year Jordan Booker. Despite the efforts from Thomas to keep traction of the game, Joshua Ward continued to show leadership for the Eagles knocking down a trey from downtown to put Life University in leading position by only trailing by five.
Senior Tim Williamson saw an opportunity to help the Night Hawks stay in front with a steal that was dished to Senior Mohammed Abubakar to put Thomas up by seven. The Eagles continued to answer back as Life eventually saw their first lead of the game with a three pointer. It did not take long for Thomas to answer back to the game at the 15 minute mark.
Eventually, the game turned into a battle of buckets as Thomas saw a small surge late in the game with a good layup from Senior Corey Fulton. Tim Williamson responded with a statement maker of his own in the paint to put the Night Hawks up by four. TU could not settle down after the two buckets as a foul from the Green and White helped Life University at the charity stripe to cut the deficit by two. Life University continued to make opportunities at the free throw that eventually gave them the lead by three before turning around and scoring a few points in the paint.
As time continued to wind down, Life University started to slowly pull away before a dunk from Mohammaed netted the game at 65 a piece for both teams. The Eagles created an opportunity for Jordan Booker to help regain the lead for Thomas at the free throw line.
Despite the last minute efforts from Thomas University in the last few seconds of play, Life University took advantage of the missed opportunity from the Green and White. The Eagles was able to maintain a small lead to upset the Night Hawks for their season opener.
Overall, Life University controlled nearly every statistical category as the Eagles' was able to shoot 38.5% from the field as a team and 42.9% from behind the arch. Life U also finished the game shooting over 70% from the charity stripe. The Eagles created nearly eight points off of missed opportunities from the Night Hawks, taking the lead three times overall. Life U had a tremendous help from the bench, after scoring 45 just from bench points.
Thomas University overall shot just 37.7% from the field as a team and 29.4% from behind the arch. The Night Hawks had no problem converting the free points after shooting 72.7% from the free throw line. Despite the tough loss, the team fought hard with help from the bench after scoring 22 points. Mohammed Abubakar made a statement in his debut as a Night Hawk by leading the team with 12 points and 9 rebounds on the night.
WHAT'S NEXT: TU will hit the court on Saturday at 12pm to end their road trip at the Life University Classic against Dalton State College.
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 teamby following them via Twitter at @NightHawksMBKB.
