They broke out the drip, then showed why they want some more drip.
Thomas More men’s basketball team (9-0, 6-0) remained undefeated with a 66-52 victory over Pikeville (5-6, 2-4) on Thursday at the Connor Convocation Center in Crestview Hills.
The ring ceremony prior to the game was for the Saints regular season Mid-South conference championship and national semifinal run in the NAIA tournament last season.
“Last year was a hell of an accomplishment and a great ride and something that those guys will remember forever. Now they’ve got something tangible to sit there and look at that they can remember those moments,” Saints coach Justin Ray said.
While breaking out the rings was a nice touch, senior forward Reid Jolly feels it just provides more fuel, Jolly ending with 15 points and six rebounds in the contest.
“It feels good to finally get a tangible thing to look at and it’s motivating as well. It feels good, but I think that we can be better than we were last year. That’s the goal. So we’re going to continue to get better every day,” Jolly said.
The defense has carried the Saints so far, not allowing an opponent to score more than 63 points this season, continuing that trend in Thursday’s Mid-South Conference battle.
Winning ugly is something the Saints have been able to do this season. They’re fine with embracing it too.
“Sometimes the uglier the better for us,” Ray said. “The uglier it seems to look, the more we win. Struggled to score a little bit, but our defensive effort continues to kind of be our identity and I’m okay with that.”
They finished 45 percent from the field, 5-of-19 from three, but it was back-to-back 3-pointers by Jolly and then Casey George that ignited the Saints down the stretch when it was a two-point game.
Then the defense did what it had been doing all season, locking down. Pikeville scored five points in the final 9:49, three of those points coming in the final minute when the Saints put some reserves in to finish things up. What was a 49-47 game turned into a 66-52 final.
“Reid Jolly got the lid off the rim. We needed that and he’s been making big plays since he got here. I trust him to make big plays when we need to. He’s not ever scared of the moment, dude’s a gamer, he’s a winner and he’s been doing it since his Campbell County days,” Ray said. “Same way with. Casey is not afraid to make big shots. And we needed that and he stepped right up. One of those was deep and he wasn’t afraid of the moment.”
Now comes life on the road for the Saints, four straight contests away from Crestview Hills. It starts on Saturday when they play at Shawnee State at 3 p.m.
“We like it. We like to wear the black uniforms on the road. It’s more fun to win on the road,” Ray said.
George also added 15 points, Noah Pack scoring 12, Jacob Jones with 11 first half points.