THOMASVILLE, Ga. – A 31-point performance by Justyn Watkins propelled the Thomas men's basketball team to a 96-74 upset of sixth-ranked Embry-Riddle (20-4, 9-3), Tuesday on Thomas' home court. Watkins, who is the league's leading scorer averaging 29.4 points per game, was 11-of-14 from the field and 7-of-8 from the free throw line as the first-year Thomas program improved to 13-9 overall and 6-6 in conference play.
The game started at a frenetic pace with the Eagles shooting 77.8 percent (7-of-9) and the Night Hawks knocking down 85.7 percent (6-of-7) from the field to make the score 16-13 in favor of the home team less than five minutes into the contest. Thomas was able to extend the advantage to eight (25-17), but a
Reed Ridder trey pulled the Eagles back within five with 12:25 remaining in the first frame.
At the 10:38 mark, Watkins broke a two-minute scoring drought by both teams and his layup triggered a 9-0 Night Hawk run that widened the gap to 14 points (34-20) with 9:03 left in the half. With 7:32 left in the half,
DeForest Carter drove to the basket and knocked down the and-one to narrow the gap to eight points (34-26), but back-to-back layups by Max Grace and Watkins put Thomas back up by 12 (38-26).
The remainder of the half saw the Night Hawks continue to apply high-pressure defense, which led to 11 Eagle turnovers. Thomas converted those Eagle miscues into 13 points, and that, coupled with 18-of-35 made baskets, include a 6-for-10 clip from the field, helped the Night Hawks' grow their lead to 15 points at the halftime break as they took a 49-34 advantage into the locker room.
The Eagles scored the first basket of the second frame just 13 seconds into the half when Carter stripped Watkins and raced to the basket for the layup. He was fouled on the play and knocked down the free throw to make it a 12-point game (49-37).
On the next possession, the Eagles rebounded a Watkins miss and raced down the court with a chance to cut even further into the lead. But whatever momentum the Eagles had quickly dissipated as the Eagles turned the ball over and Thomas responded with four unanswered points to extend the margin to 55-39.
Although the Eagles took better care of the basketball in the second half with just six turnovers, they struggled with their shooting. The Blue and Gold managed just 12-of-38 shooting (31.6 percent) from the field and were just 2-of-13 from beyond the arc. On the other side of the ball, Thomas shot 56.7 percent from the field (17-30) and led by as many as 24 points on the way to their sixth conference win of the season.
Reed Ridder came off the bench to lead the Eagle scorers with 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field and a perfect 4-for-4 effort from the charity stripe.
Rico Saldana and
Cesar Pastrana each finished with 10 points and eight boards.
The Eagles will be back in action on Thursday when they host conference foe Johnson & Wales at the ICI Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
