BRUNSWICK, Ga. – Toriano Lewis hit five shots from downtown as the Thomas University men's basketball team defeated College of Coastal Georgia, 80-73, Saturday at Coffin Gym, earning the Night Hawks the second seed in the conference tournament.
 
Thomas ends the regular season 18-7 overall and 11-5 in the league, earning the second seed in the Sun Conference Men's Basketball Tournament. TU and St. Thomas each posted an 11-5 record, but the Night Hawks won the tie breaker to earn the higher seed.
 
The Night Hawks will play Friday, Feb. 24 at 5 p.m. at Southeastern University, the top seed in the event. TU will await the winner of the 6-seed Warner and 3-seed St. Thomas game, which will be played Tuesday, Feb. 21 at STU.  
 
At Coastal Georgia on Saturday, Thomas took a 35-26 halftime lead, but CCG made a run in the second half, and took a 51-50 lead with 12 minutes to play. Coastal Georgia led by as many as eight with 10 minutes left, but Thomas chipped away at the lead with a pair of 3-pointers from Toriano Lewis.
 
A trey from Jordan Booker put TU ahead, 65-64, but CCG wasn't done yet, hitting an unanswered 3-pointer and pair of free throws to go up by three with three minutes to play. Lewis again drained a long shot, tying the game at 69 with 2:43 remaining. A jumper from Deonta Jones at 2:15 put Thomas up for good.
 
Toriano went 5-for-7 from long range to score a team-high 15 points. Jordan Booker netted 10 points to go along with six assists, three rebounds and a steal.  
 
Jones was one board shy of a double-double, with 10 points and nine rebounds, as well as five assists. Mohammed Abubakar also grabbed eight rebounds and scored eight points.
 
The Night Hawks hit 46.8 percent (29-62) from the field and 46.4 percent (13-28) from long range.