MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (January 6, 2018) – The Warriors led by 12 at the break and held a 13-point lead with less than 10 minutes remaining in the second half, but it took a defensive stand late in the game for the Webber International University men's basketball team to pull out the victory. In the end, Webber defeated Florida Memorial University 74-72 on Saturday at the FMU Wellness Center.

Webber's final points of the game came with 1:28 left when Tommie Luke scored to make it 74-69. The Lions answered with a 3-pointer moments later to draw back within two, and with 6.4 seconds on the clock and Webber leading 74-72, Florida Memorial had the ball and drew up a play to try and win the game, but Davon Williams' contested 3-point shot from the top of the key failed to draw iron as the Warriors walked away victorious.

"I am so proud of our guys tonight," said Head Coach Allen Corbin. "Our effort and focus was tremendous. It is hard to get a win on the road in conference play, and Florida Memorial is a terrific team and very well coached. I am very pleased with our grit and toughness both mentally and physically."

With the win, Webber's record improved to 6-7 overall and 3-4 in The Sun Conference while Florida Memorial's fell to 8-5 and 3-4. It was the second conference win for the Warriors in their last three tries.

The largest lead of the game for Webber came early in the second half when Austin Evans scored to make it 44-30 with 17:39 on the clock. From there, the Warriors maintained at least an eight-point lead all the way until the 8:14 mark in the game.

With 9:12 left, Webber led by 13 at 60-47 after another score by Evans, but the Lions proceeded to go on an 11-0 run over the next three and a half minutes to get within one score at 60-58. Then, with 5:01 left, FMU got within one at 61-60 before taking the lead at 65-64 with 3:10 left to play.

Two free throws by Johnathan Childs with 2:44 on the clock gave the Warriors their lead back at 66-65, and then Webber took back the lead for the last time as Osandai Vaughn scored on an and-one with 2:22 on the clock to make it 69-67 Warriors. Vaughn scored again less than 40 seconds later, this time with a 3-pointer, to make it a five-point margin for Webber at 72-67 with 1:44 left.

The Warriors got their big lead in the second half after closing the final three minutes and 20 seconds of the first half on a 12-2 run to turn a two-point lead (28-26) into a 12-point margin (40-28). Nikita Orap connected on two 3-pointers during the final two minutes of the half to help Webber take control.

Webber led 28-22 with 4:41 to go in the first half after an alley-oop dunk from Childs off the feed from Luke. In all, Childs and Vaughn accounted for 20 of Webber's first 28 points, and then the trio of Childs (13), Orap (9) and Vaughn (7) combined for 29 of Webber's 40 points at the half.

The Warriors outshot the Lions in each half, going nearly 60 percent from the field in the first half (59.3 percent) and going over 45 percent in the second (45.8 percent) to finish over 50 percent for the game (52.9 percent), all while holding FMU under 36 percent for the game. However, the Lions stayed in it thanks to 23 Webber turnovers that resulted in a 25-9 scoring advantage on points off turnovers for FMU.

Childs would go on to finish the game shooting 100 percent from both the field (6-6) and the free throw line (4-4) to finish with 17 points. Three other Warriors reached double-digits in scoring as Vaughn had 14 points on 50 percent shooting from the field (5-10), Orap had 12 points on a 4-of-7 mark from three, and Luke had 11 points to go along with four rebounds, three assists and two steals. Evans would finish leading the Warriors on the boards with five rebounds while adding eight points, and Nicholas Blocker matched Luke with three assists and two steals.

The Warriors will next be in action on Thursday, January 11, as they travel to West Palm Beach, Florida, to battle Keiser University, which is receiving votes in the NAIA national poll, at 7:30 p.m.