LAKE WALES, Fla. (December 13, 2017) – Tommie Luke led the way with 20 points as he and two other Warriors were great in the second half, helping the Webber International University men's basketball hang tough and earn a gritty win over Thomas University, 89-83, on Wednesday night inside Turner Athletic Center.

The game was moved to the campus of Warner University due to renovations inside Webber's home court, the Sabbagh Athletic Center.

With the win, Webber snapped a three-game skid in the regular season to improve its record to 4-5 overall and 2-3 in The Sun Conference. Thomas, meanwhile, was defeated only four days after taking down No. 24 Warner in its home gym in Georgia. The Night Hawks record fell to 5-7 and 2-4.

Luke and Nikita Orap both finished with 13 second-half points while Johnathan Childs scored 17 in the second half to pace the Warriors to their second conference win of the season. Orap would finish with 16 total points while Joseph Serrano was the fourth Warrior in double figures with 10. Both Serrano and Childs added seven rebounds and two steals while Serrano also had three assists and Childs also had a career-high four blocks.

Other Warriors with solid efforts included Garrett Woodmansee with eight points on two 3-pointers, Nicholas Blocker with seven points and three assists, and Obi Romeo with six points and a career-high nine rebounds. In addition to Woodmansee, Luke also connected on two 3-pointers while Orap was 4-of-8 from distance.

One of the major differences in the game was Webber's mark from the free throw line (28-35; 80 percent), compared to only 59.3 percent (16-27) for Thomas. Childs (7-7), Orap (4-4) and Luke (2-2) were each perfect from the line for Webber while Romeo was 4-of-5, Blocker was 3-of-4 and Serrano was 5-of-8.

Neither team led by more than five during a back-and-forth second half until the Warriors went ahead by six (62-56) after a strong alley-oop dunk from Luke off an assist from Blocker with 8:38 remaining in the game.

Orap hit two free throws followed by a 3-pointer to make it a nine-point game (67-58) with 7:40 remaining before Thomas got the deficit down to four twice.

With 2:10 on the clock, a jumper by Luke made it 79-69 Webber, but with Webber up 10 again at 83-73 with only 44 seconds left, the Night Hawks battled back to make it a three-point game at 86-83 with only 16 seconds left, capping a 10-3 run with an and-one.

From there, Serrano, one of Webber's seniors, stepped up at the free throw line and made three of four attempts to seal it.

"I could not be more proud of this team's effort tonight," said Head Coach Allen Corbin. "We had better preparation, focus and effort the past few days and have overcome a lot of adversity. I love the unselfishness and toughness demonstrated on the floor and the bench. My staff also did an incredible job tonight, and they deserve a lot of credit."

Next up, Webber will host two schools from Indiana, Grace College on Monday, December 18, at 7:30 p.m., followed by Huntington University at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, December 19. The Warriors will then enjoy a little bit over two weeks off from action before returning to the Sabbagh Athletic Center on January 4.