Thomas More men’s basketball head coach Justin Ray said the Saints are trying to find ways to be physically and mentally tougher than opponents more consistently because that’s how they’ll win games.
Ray said the Saints did that in the home win over Ashland a week ago, but did not take that same toughness on the road Wednesday and wound up losing at McKendree College. Thomas More returned to its home on Saturday at the Connor Convocation Center and found it again to knock off the Walsh University Cavaliers, 71-60. The win moves them to 7-4 overall and 3-1 in Great Midwest Athletic Conference play.
“It was a great team win,” Ray said. “Guys were locked in this morning in walkthrough. I thought we had two good days of practice. We needed a lot of toughness I thought to win this game. It was a physical game. We knew it would be because we’ve been watching these dudes be physical with guys and take them out of what they’re trying to do. I thought we handled it well, had just nine turnovers, didn’t get sped up, ran our stuff, played together, shared the ball.”
Ray said he’s been wanting to see the Saints rebound the ball better and they responded in this game outrebounding Walsh, 33-23. They outscored the Cavaliers 15-3 on second chance points. Ray credited Kyle Ross for setting the tone early. Ross and Carson Browne grabbed seven rebounds each.
Thomas More shot the ball well as a team hitting 52% from the field including 10 three-pointers. Then on defense, Thomas More limited Walsh (5-3) to five made three-pointers.
The Saints were specifically concerned with guard Kobe Mitchell and guard/forward Garrison Keeslar in Walsh’s motion offense that features a lot of slips and curls. Mitchell finished with 16 points and Keeslar had 14 as the two lone Cavaliers to reach double figures.
“We prepared for it all week. We focus leading up to games on what they’re best and try to take that away from them,” Thomas More junior guard Wyatt Vieth said. “We look to the coaches on the sidelines to tell us what (opponents) are in so we’re communicating making sure we’re all on the same page.”
Thomas More put four players in double figures. Ross led the way with 16 and Reid Jolly scored 15 with Vieth chipping in 10. Ross scored on a number of nice cuts to the baskets off give and goes from Vieth and Casey Jones, who recorded six of Thomas More’s 16 assists.
“It was a big key. I saw they were in a little too much help,” Ross said. “The slips and everything would be there. It was something that we went back to again and again because it was open.”
The Saints also had some key baskets from Nathan Dudukovich. Thomas More built a 35-25 halftime lead before the Cavaliers made a run trimming it to 44-41 with 12:30 left in the game when Keeslar hit a jumper on the right wing. Dudukovich responded at the other end with two big threes on his way to 11 points.
“We’ve got a number of keys who are capable of banging in as many threes as you’ll let them take,” Ray said. “We can be dangerous. That was good to see those go in for (Dudukovich) because he’s been struggling.”
Thomas More took the lead three minutes into the game and never relinquished it. The Saints built it to 10 three times, including the halftime lead after Vieth hit a jumper with 1:50 left in the first half.
After the Walsh run in the second half, Thomas More rebuilt the lead to double figures. They led 65-54 with 3:45 left, but finished the game with a 6-0 run, running a four corner offense.
“That’s been a big key for us because in the early games when we were still trying to figure each other out and we still are, we lost some tight games because we couldn’t execute in the last five minutes of the first half or the end of the game so we’ve been doing that in practice,” Ray said.
Thomas More takes on Miami University at Hamilton (Ohio) on Tuesday back at home at 7 p.m.
SAINTS 71, CAVALIERS 60
WALSH — 25-35 — 60
THOMAS MORE — 35-36 — 71
Scoring
Walsh (60) — Mitchell 16, Keeslar 14, Oddo 7, McHale 5, Carter 4, Smith 4, Square 2, Walker 2, Satterfield 2, Hougan 2, Frascone 2
Thomas More (71) — Ross 16, Jolly 15, Dudkovich 11, Vieth 10, George 8, Jones 4, Browne 4, Paris 3
Game Stats
3-Pointers Made: Walsh 5, Thomas More 10
Free Throws: Walsh 7/10, Thomas More 7/14
Records: Walsh 5-3, Thomas More 7-4