Babson Park, FL – A suffocating second-half defensive effort powered the the Webber International Men's Basketball team to a 59–53 comeback win over St. Thomas University in SUN Conference play Wednesday night inside the Sabbagh Athletic Center. The Warriors trailed by 15 at the break but outscored the Bobcats 40–19 over the final 20 minutes to even their league record at 1–1 and move to 3–4 overall.
St. Thomas controlled the opening half, using hot perimeter shooting and a 26–9 rebounding edge to build a 34–19 advantage at intermission and lead by as many as 16. The Warriors struggled to find rhythm offensively early, but a three from Deon Brown and a late driving finish kept Webber within striking distance heading into the locker room.
The script flipped after halftime as Webber cranked up the pressure on both ends. The Warriors forced 16 total Bobcat turnovers for the game and turned them into 20 points, steadily chipping away at the deficit behind multiple trips to the free-throw line and timely three-point shooting. Webber finally seized its first lead in the closing minutes and never let go, pushing the margin to six in the final seconds to close out the rally.
Jacob Rice sparked the comeback with a big second half off the bench, finishing with a team-high 14 points and four rebounds while going 4-of-7 from the field, including 2-of-5 from deep and 4-of-5 at the stripe. Nirobi Peeler Jr. buried four three-pointers on his way to 13 points, while starters Landon Tillman and Johnny Torrence Jr. added nine points apiece; Torrence also grabbed seven boards, and Tillman filled the box score with three rebounds, three assists and three steals.
As a team, Webber shot 37.3 percent from the floor (19-of-51), 32.0 percent from three (8-of-25) and 68.4 percent at the line (13-of-19), while its bench delivered a 31–0 scoring edge over the Bobcats. St. Thomas was led by a double-double from Kaleb Myers (15 points, 12 rebounds) and 11 points each from Adrian Cruz and Donovan Mitchell, but the Warriors' second-half surge and points-off-turnovers advantage proved to be the difference.
After the win, Head Coach Gabriel Rutledge was proud of his team's effort.
"I'm really proud of our win tonight. I thought that was the epitome of our team and program, I have a ton of respect for that program and Coach Moss. He had his guys ready to play in the first half and played more physical than us. They put a ton of pressure on us, but I'm proud of the fact that we showed a great resiliency with real game pressure on us and we found a way to get stops and make big shots on offense. I thought the key was our defensive rebounding. That's been an issue we've had to address. We valued the ball in the second half and made our free throws. When we are at our best guys are just making key offensive plays, finding a way to score, which wasn't easy and being physical on defense. It's never going to be easy in The Sun Conference, but I'm really proud of this team. Go Warriors!"
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