LAKE WALES, Fla. (January 11, 2020) – In a game that featured two of the five teams that began the day tied for fifth place in the Sun Conference Men's Basketball Standings, the Webber International University men's basketball team lost a hard-fought battle with its Crooked Lake rival Warner University, 79-76, on Saturday inside the Turner Athletic Center.

The Warriors trailed by 10 at 62-52 with nine and a half minutes left to play and quickly got back to within four at 62-58 thanks to a 6-0 run over a minute and a half.

Then, after Warner went back up by eight at 66-58 with 7:14 left to play, the Warriors came back to tie it at 69-69 with 4:40 left thanks to an 11-3 run.

A jumper by Ariel Watson then made it a one-point game in favor of Warner at 72-71 with 3:33 left, and then Watson got the Warriors to within two at 78-76 with another 3-pointer, but with only 41 seconds left.

A free throw by the Royals with 19 seconds left made it a 3-point game at 79-76, and then the Warriors missed two potential game-tying 3-pointers in the final 11 seconds.

Tommie Luke led all scorers with 21 points on 3-of-5 shooting from three. He also added seven rebounds and six assists.

Watson finished with 17 points, six rebounds and five assists and Malik Morrow added 10 points and five boards as both players also hit two 3-pointers in the game.

Joel Coffey Jr. had a nice game with 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field, and he was also only one rebound shy of a double-double with nine boards.

In addition to falling back to. 500 overall on the season at 9-9 and dropping to 2-5 in The Sun Conference, the Warriors also fell to 1-2 this season against teams from The Sun Conference that were either nationally ranked or receiving votes in the in the NAIA Division-II Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll. For the Royals (14-5 overall, 3-4 TSC), it was their first conference win since November 23 on the road over Florida Memorial University.

Next up, Webber will host its first home conference game of 2020 as the Warriors and the Night Hawks of Thomas University do battle starting at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 16, inside the Sabbagh Athletic Center.