Box Score THOMASVILLE, Ga. – The 2021-22 season ended on a high note for the Thomas University Men's basketball team, as the Night Hawks evened its regular season series with the Coastal Georgia Mariners 86-81 Saturday evening at TU Gymnasium.
 
TU (11-15, 5-11 SUN) truly saved the best for last, tallying a season-high 86 points on offense to remain perfect against Coastal Georgia (8-16, 3-13 SUN) at home in conference play.  The Green & White were able to overcome a double-digit deficit not once, but twice in the contest from strong 3-point shooting a tremendous, team performance from the charity stripe (20-for-23).  CCGA shot as well as 69.1% from the floor before the Night Hawks mellowed its hot shooting down to 53.2% on the day.  The Mariners also shot strong from outside the perimeter (44%), but only went 4-from-7 from the free-throw line.
 
Redshirt Junior Keon Williams was one of several Night Hawks that played a significant role in the thrilling win, notching 20 points by shooting 7-for-12 from the field and a perfect 4-for-4 from the line.  Senior Guard Tim Williamson hit 18 points, shooting 40% from the court and also going perfect from the charity stripe (6-for-6).  Senior Guard Toriano Lewis finished the season in style, hitting 55.6% of shots from downtown.
 
Coastal Georgia was sailing off to a 9-0 blazing start en route to a 16-6 lead within the first five minutes play before Thomas responded with a similar run to bring CCGA's lead to one (22-21) at the 10:52 mark.  A minute and a half later, a trey from Lewis gave TU its first lead (27-26) of the day. 
 
With a 31-31 tie at the 5:41 mark, Coastal Georgia would spend the rest of the half slowly pushing out another lead, an eight-point difference (49-41) the team took with them to the locker room.
 
The Mariners extended its lead back to double-digits with an Anthony Duncan dunk just a minute and change into the second half.  CCGA would eventually push out to a lead as large as 12 (59-47) with 14:19 left in the contest before the Night Hawks embarked on one, final comeback run on the season.
 
In just three minutes and 41 seconds, Thomas came blazing back for a second time, outscoring the Mariners 14-2 to tie the game at 61 apiece in a span that the Night Hawks shoot 6-for-7 from the floor, highlighted by Williams' eight points.
 
After CCGA took a temporary before a basket from Junior Guard Justin Figueroa tied the game again at the 8:17 mark, Thomas would take its second lead of the game from a pair of good free throws from Booker (67-65).  The Powder Springs, Ga. native would follow up the free throws with a steal-and-score on the ensuing possession before CCGA's Rodney Wiley Jr. responded with a trey to cut TU's lead to one (69-68) with 6:41 remaining.
After a good free-throw tied the game 69-69 at the 5:22 mark, the Night Hawks went on a second scoring run (12-2) over a 4:41 span, capped off by a Williamson dunk that involved a technical foul issued by the officials for showboating.  Mariners' Jordon Parks was awarded one free-throw shot, which was made that cut TU's lead to nine (81-72).
 
Even with 36 seconds left, the contest was far from over, as the Mariners responded with back-to-back 3-Ptrs. made in a five-second span, courtesy of a critical Thomas turnover, to trim the deficit to three (81-78).  After Booker made another pair of free-throws to the Green & White's lead back up by five, Coastal Georgia responded with yet another made 3-Ptr. made before a costly tech was called on the Mariners' bench that sent Lewis to the line to potentially clinch the contest.  The Richmond, Va. native's 1-for-2 set gave the Mariners new life for the ensuing possession before a critical, missed layup from Wiley and defensive rebound forced Coastal Georgia to foul and send Thomas back to the charity stripe to add two more good free throws to secure an 86-81 win for the Night Hawks.
 
TU by the Numbers
2:        Double-digit comebacks to win
4:        Players in double figures
5:        Players shooting 40% or better
6:        Night Hawks registering points
8:        Night Hawks that played
10:      Largest lead of the day
11:      Season wins
15:      Career SUN wins for Head Coach TJ Rines
20:      Team free-throws made
86:      Points scored (season-high)
 
Thomas concludes the season at 11-15 with five wins in SUN play, as the Night Hawks begin its offseason next week.  The Green & White will return to the court in October to compete once more for conference and national titles.
 
For up-to-date information on games 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 team by following them via Twitter at @NightHawksMBKB.