WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (January 11, 2018) – The Warriors cut their second-half deficit from 12 all the way down to three late in the game, but in the end the Webber International University men's basketball team fell to No. 25 Keiser University, 87-74, on Thursday night at the Countess de Hoernle Student Life Center.

In the second half, free throws by Garrett Woodmansee and Osandai Vaughn capped a big 19-7 Warrior run over a three-and-a-half-minute span that made it a 60-56 Keiser lead nine minutes into the second half.

Keiser quickly got their lead back up to double digits at 67-57 a little over three and a half minutes later before Webber made it a five-point game at 67-62 with 6:19 left after two more free throws by Vaughn and a three by Nikita Orap.

Orap hit what was his fifth three of the game with six minutes left to make it 70-65, and then Joseph Serrano made it a three-point game at 70-67 after a steal and a coast-to-coast lay-in with 3:43 left.

Next, after the Seahawks went up by eight at 77-69, Vaughn connected on a three to get the Warriors' deficit back to five at 77-72 with less than two minutes remaining. However, Keiser would go on score eight straight points on free throws and finished the game 10-of-14 from the line during the final 1:41 of the game.

Orap and Vaughn both scored 17 points as Orap finished with five 3-pointers and Vaughn had three. Woodmansee finished with 10 points on 2-for-2 shooting from 3-point range, Serrano was strong with seven assists, Nicholas Blocker added seven points and three assists, and Johnathan Childs led the team with six rebounds while Vaughn added five boards.

"Our guys played extremely hard and we are growing daily," said Head Coach Allen Corbin. "We had a couple of setbacks tonight that we will address. I also would have liked to have made some more shots, but overall I'm happy with our performance"

Webber fell to 6-8 overall and 3-5 in The Sun Conference after nearly earning its second straight conference road win. Keiser saw its record rise to 11-6 overall and 6-2 in the conference with what was its fourth straight win as the Seahawks also pulled into sole possession of second place in the conference standings. The Seahawks, a team that is second in the country in field goal defense and top five in three other categories, had been receiving votes in the previous two NAIA national polls before making the jump to No. 25 this week.

Earlier in the action, Webber led 26-19 at the 8:29 mark in the first half after an extremely long 3-pointer by Orap, but Keiser rattled off 10 straight points over the next four minutes to jump ahead 29-26.

Woodmansee then answered with a 3-pointer to tie it at 29 with 4:21 left in the first half before the Seahawks scored 11 straight points to go up 40-29 with 1:15 on the clock. Orap hit his third 3-pointer of the half 21 seconds later and Blocker hit a three with only five seconds left in the half, but the Warriors still trailed by 11 (46-35) at the break as Keiser closed the period on a 17-6 run.

Next up, Webber hosts Johnson & Wales University at 4 p.m. inside the Sabbagh Athletic Center on Saturday, January 13. It will be the fourth of six straight Sun Conference matchups for the Warriors.