MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (November 23, 2019) – The Webber International University men's basketball team won for the first time in Sun Conference play during the 2019-20 season, defeating St. Thomas University 79-72 on the road on Saturday afternoon inside the Fernandez Family Center.

"I am very proud of our guys' fight tonight," said Webber's Head Men's Basketball Coach Allen Corbin. "We got punched in the mouth as soon as the ball was tipped and things were not looking good. I have been talking with the guys about fighting thru adversity and we finally did it tonight. We will enjoy this win for a few hours and then we will get back to work."

Early on in the game, Webber trailed by as much as 14 at 18-4 only five minutes in.

Webber was led by Tommie Luke with a game-high 26 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field and a 10-for-12 mark from the free throw line.

Corey Corbin and Ariel Watson both added 13 points on 60 percent shooting and 50 perfect shooting, respectively, while Javonni Quince finished with 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds.

The Warriors finished the game shooting a very strong 54.7 percent (29-53) from the field, but struggled both from three (25 percent) and from the foul line (69.2 percent) as there were 17 leads changes and St. Thomas kept it close late in the second half.

With Webber up by seven at 69-62 with six minutes to play, the Warriors saw their lead trimmed down to three at 69-66 before back-to-back offensive rebounds on Webber's next possession led to two free throws by Jaylon Myles to make it 71-66 with 3:51 remaining in the game.

From there, Webber struggled to close out the game at the line, going 3-for-6 from the charity stripe over the next two minutes.

Then, after a turnover by the Warriors followed by an offensive rebound and a layup for the Bobcats got St. Thomas back to within two possessions at 74-68 with a minute and a half left to play, the home team cut its deficit in half with an and-one with 1:12 remaining to make it 74-71.

Approaching the one-minute mark, Luke took over as he made a pair of free throws to make it 76-71 with 1:06 left, and then on Webber's next possession following a Bobcat turnover, the Warriors ran the shot clock down and Luke converted a tough layup to make it 78-71 with under 30 seconds left.

With its first win in Sun Conference play, Webber is now 3-6 overall and 1-2 in conference while St. Thomas fell to 2-2 and 1-2. It will also the first win for the Warriors over the Bobcats in eight tries, snapping a seven-game winning streak for STU in the series that dated all the way back to the 2015-16 season.

Next up for Webber men's basketball is an exhibition game at NCAA Division-II Rollin College at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, November 26, in Winter Park, Florida. After that, the Warriors will return to regular-season action with a nonconference game at home vs. Carolina Christian College at 5 p.m. on December 3.