Point Comes Back to Win at Thomas
THOMASVILLE, Ga. – Kenton Steele's double-double performance guided the Point University men's basketball team to a 70-66 win in a conference road game against Thomas University tonight. The Skyhawks are now 10-12 and 6-10 on the year, while the Night Hawks drop to 6-18 and 3-12.
Thomas opened up the game with an 11-2 lead, but the Skyhawks fought to keep the game close. The teams exchanged baskets with Thomas holding a 21-12 lead with 11:19 on the clock. Point clawed back to trail 34-28 with 2:43 left in the half and then used a 5-2 run to trail 36-33 going into halftime.
Coming out of the locker room, Thomas used a 4-1 to give it some breathing room in the first minute and a half to start the second half and go up 40-34. Tanner Higgins changed that when he drained a three-pointer to cut the lead to 40-37, but the Night Hawks responded as they pushed their lead to 46-37 with 15:16 to go. Once again, baskets were exchanged with Thomas holding a 56-47 lead with exactly nine minutes left in the game. The Skyhawks put together a 13-3 run to grab a 60-59 lead, and its first of the game. The lead did not last long as Thomas drained back-to-back foul shots to go back in front.
Both teams found themselves tied at 64, but a Robert Harris three-pointer put Point up 67-66 with under a minute to go. With 19 seconds on the clock, Yuta Yamamoto hit a free throw to go up 68-66. The Skyhawks defense was able to force a turnover with eight seconds on the clock. With the last possession in the Skyhawks' favor, they were able to get a dunk from D'Andre Jefferson coming out of a timeout to go up 70-66 and secure the win.
Point as a team grabbed 38 rebounds to Thomas' 35. The Skyhawks shot 41.7% from the field, 33.3% from the arc, while both teams were equal at the line at 68%.
Steele tallied 23 points and 12 boards while shooting 7 of 11 from the line.
Both Harris and Jefferson each tallied 10 points while going a combined 7 of 18 from the field. Harris led the team in three-pointers made with two.
Brandon Kincaid finished the night with nine points and six rebounds. He recorded two of the team's three steals.
Point is back on the road this Saturday when it takes on conference opponent Abraham Baldwin Agricultural at 2 p.m.