Justin Ray loves balance on the basketball court.
Thomas More’s men’s basketball coach got his wish in Thursday’s 72-64 win over Lindsey Wilson at the Connor Convocation Center – a quintet of double-figure scorers.
Reid Jolly led the Saints with 17 points. Close behind were Wyatt Vieth (14 points, three steals), Casey George (13 points, 10 rebounds), Jacob Jones (11 points, four assists, two steals), and Kyle Ross (11 points, five rebounds, three blocks).
“We have five guys that average double figures because we don’t play that many guys,” Ray said.
Vieth had “no idea” how many times the Saints have had five in double figures.
“On this team, it really doesn’t matter who scores as long as we’re sharing the ball and getting the best shot possible for our team,” he said.
There was more for the Saints, ranked 22nd in the NAIA poll, to celebrate: converting 16 Blue Raider turnovers into 17 points, a 34-24 advantage in paint points, an 18-14 edge in second chance, and out-rebounding the Blue Raiders, 32-26.
For a while, you could’ve wondered whether Lindsey Wilson (7-14, 3-13) would ever score in the first half.
It took Thomas More (16-5, 11-5) just under six minutes to take a 16-0 lead, and the Saints did it with a little of a lot.
There was close-in scoring – Noah Pack, George and Jolly each had a layup.
There was long-distance marksmanship – Vieth hit two 3s.
And finally, there were more layups. Jolly and Pack each contributed one.
Lindsey Wilson didn’t tally its first points until Elijah Jordan’s jumper seven minutes into the half; he led the Blue Raiders with 17 points.
“He can do things that, it doesn’t matter how good you guard him, you can’t stop him,” Ray said. “He’s a Division I transfer (New Hampshire from 2017-2019). He shoots over 50% from 3, and he shoots a lot of them.”
Jordan’s bucket was the beginning of his team’s best scoring streak – the resulting 10-0 run cut the Saints’ lead to 16-10 and included a pair of Rodney Lewis 3s.
Ironically, Ross finished the half with a last-second shot in which he lost his balance – he missed a five-footer, grabbed the offensive rebound and scored as he was falling down.
Vieth’s two 3s and Ross’ bucket helped the Saints to a 51-34 lead six minutes into the second half.
It turned out Thomas More needed every single point, and not just because Lindsey Wilson outscored the Saints, 38-33, in the second half.
“You never want to take a win for granted, but man, that second half was frustrating,” Ray said. “We allowed them to do the things that we talked about taking away from them; shooters were shooting, drivers were getting downhill.
“Offensively, man, we went a long time without scoring … we couldn’t capitalize on a lot of the free throws.”
After Jamyus Jones and Jamie Strong each knocked down a 3, Lindsey Wilson trailed by just 67-62 with 32 seconds to go. Problem for the Blue Raiders was, they managed only two points the rest of the way.
Thomas More entered Thursday in a three-way tie with Tennessee Southern and RV Shawnee State for third in the MSC. The Saints take on Campbellsville at 3 p.m. Saturday.
LINDSEY WILSON FG FT REB TP
Mumford 1-6 0-0 3 2
Jordan 7-10 1-2 0 17
Jones 1-5 2-3 3 5
Lazard 3-7 0-2 2 6
Ribeiro 4-5 0-0 6 8
Kalonji 1-2 0-2 4 2
Robinson 0-0 0-0 0 0
Cundiff 4-7 0-0 1 11
Strong 1-4 2-2 1 5
Beckles 1-4 0-0 5 2
Lewis 2-7 0-0 0 6
Harlan 0-3 0-0 0 0
Edwards 0-0 0-0 1 0
Team 0
TOTALS 25-60 5-11 26 64
FG Pct.: 41.7. FT Pct: 45.5. 3-point FG: 9-24 (Mumford 0-2, Jordan 2-3, Jones 1-4, Cundiff 3-6, Strong 1-4, Lewis 2-4, Harlan 0-1). PF: 25. Fouled out: Lazard. Turnovers: 16.
THOMAS MORE FG FT REB TP
Jolly 6-11 4-5 5 17
Pack 2-3 0-0 3 4
Vieth 5-13 0-0 4 14
Jones 2-4 7-12 3 11
George 4-9 5-6 10 13
Ross 4-9 2-4 5 11
Eddings 1-2 0-0 1 2
Smith 0-0 0-0 1 0
Team 0
TOTALS 24-51 18-27 32 72
FG Pct.: 47.1 FT Pct: 66.7. 3-point FG: 6-21 (Jolly 1-3, Pack 0-1, Vieth 4-11, George 0-2, Ross 1-3, Eddings 0-1). PF: 16. Fouled out: Eddings. Turnovers: 14.
Halftime: Thomas More led, 39-26. Technical fouls: None.