Thomas More College defeated Westminster College, 98-83, at home and were led by sophomore guard Damion King (Winchester, Ky./George Rogers Clark). With the win Thomas More moves to 16-6 overall and 12-3 in the PAC and still holds the second spot in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) standings.
Tonight the Saints looked like a team with a mission. Finishing the game shooting 47.8 percent from the field, 50 percent from three-point land, and 73.3 percent from the free-throw line the Saints looked like a team hungry for the number one spot in the PAC. Along with a good shooting night, the Saints out-rebounded their opponent 47-34 and had two players record double-digits in the rebound category. Now with three games left until tournament time the Saints look to not only make a playoff push, but a shot at that number one seed in the conference and the team’s first regular season championship since 2010.
The Saints had nine players reach the scoring column tonight and five of those nine had double-digits. King had a huge night finishing with 29 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Along with King sophomore guard Ryne Callahan (Morehead, Ky./Rowan County) finished with 16 points, sophomore guard Ralph Stone (Shelbyville, Ky./Martha Layne Collins) finished with 11, junior center Simon Clifford (Louisville, Ky./DuPont Manual) finished with 10, and sophomore guard Brandon Horne (Louisville, Ky./Male) finished with a double-double recording 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Talking with the Player of the Game Damion King after the game we asked him what led to his big night and he told us, “Before the game coach told us to be aggressive and to play hard and that is what I did. If we play like we did tonight and stay together we have a chance to make this season a special one.”
The Titans of Westminster had eight players reach the scoring column and four had double-digits. The Titans were led by Jarret Vrabel, who finished the game with 19 points. Other notable scorers were Brandon Domenick, who finished with 16, Austin Armwood, who finished with 14 and Cameron Kane-Johnson, who finished with 13 points.
Talking with Head Coach Drew Cooper after the game we asked about what he thought about his team’s performance tonight and he seemed very please saying, “It was good to see our guys perform in what was an absolute playoff atmosphere tonight. Tonight we played in a very good college basketball game and our guys were able to tough it out.”
The Saints will hit the road Saturday as they travel to Waynesburg, Pennsylvania to take on Waynesburg College. Tip-off will be at 3:30 p.m.
Newspaper Box Score
Westminster vs Thomas More
02/08/17 7:30 p.m. at Crestview Hills, Ky. – Connor Center
At Crestview Hills, Ky. – Connor Center
THOMAS MORE 98, WESTMINSTER 83
WESTMINSTER (14-5, 10-5 PAC)
Jarret Vrabel 7-11 2-3 19; Brandon Domenick 6-12 0-0 16; Austin Armwood 5-12
0-0 14; Cameron Kane-Johnson 3-12 6-8 13; Deontay Scott 3-7 3-4 9; African
Grant II 2-3 0-0 5; Jason Pilarski 2-7 0-0 5; Marco Delorenzo 1-1 0-0 2;
Cameron Pozsgai 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 29-65 11-17 83.
THOMAS MORE (16-6, 12-3 PAC)
Damion King 8-19 11-12 29; Ryne Callahan 6-16 0-0 16; Ralph Stone 3-5 4-4
11; Brandon Horne 4-7 1-5 10; Simon Clifford 5-9 0-0 10; Junior Stockwell
3-6 2-4 8; Sawyer Pauly 2-4 2-2 7; Austin Young 1-2 2-2 5; Michael Griffin
1-1 0-1 2; Jacob Hall 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 33-69 22-30 98.
Westminster………………. 47 36 – 83
Thomas More………………. 48 50 – 98
3-point goals–Westminster 14-32 (Austin Armwood 4-8; Brandon Domenick 4-9;
Jarret Vrabel 3-3; African Grant II 1-2; Jason Pilarski 1-3; Cameron
Kane-Johnson 1-7), Thomas More 10-20 (Ryne Callahan 4-12; Damion King 2-3;
Brandon Horne 1-1; Austin Young 1-2; Ralph Stone 1-1; Sawyer Pauly 1-1).
Fouled out–Westminster-Deontay Scott, Thomas More-None.
Rebounds–Westminster 34 (Jarret Vrabel 8), Thomas More 47 (Junior Stockwell
11). Assists–Westminster 19 (Brandon Domenick 5; Austin Armwood 5), Thomas
More 16 (Damion King 6). Total fouls–Westminster 23, Thomas More 15.
Technical fouls–Westminster-TEAM, Thomas More-None. A-376
Cory Blackson
Director of Athletic Communications and Compliance
