MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – The 2011-12 edition of the St. Thomas men's basketball team has now won more games than any other team in 38 years of Bobcat men's basketball.  With a 69-55 victory over Ave Maria on Senior Night at the Fernandez Center, the Bobcats improved to 21-7 overall and 14-2 in The Sun Conference. 

The 21 wins by STU breaks the school record for wins in a season.  The previous record was 20 set in 1992-93 and again in 2008-09.

“They are just a resilient group of guys, fearless and very competitive,” said Head Coach Clark Maloney who also was the coach of the 2008-09 team that won 20 games.  “I couldn't be happier for this group of guys.”

The record-breaking win came on Senior Night as STU seniors Eugene Davis, Robert Ford, Everson Lacerda, and David Nesbitt were honored prior to their final regular season game at the Fernandez Center.  The seniors responded led by Nesbitt who came up just shy of his eighth double-double of the year with 11 points and nine rebounds.  Lacerda, the team's starting center, scored eight points with seven boards.  Davis recorded seven points, three assists, three rebounds and a steal, while Ford had three assists, three rebounds and two points.

Typical of this humble group, Ford and his fellow seniors downplayed the theatrics of the night and let their playing do the talking.

“As a team I thought we played well and I think I could have hit some shots I missed,” said Ford.  “But I'm happy with the victory.”

The seniors certainly shared the scoring wealth with the rest of the Bobcats as a total of 12 different Bobcats scored in the game.  Ten different STU players had scored by halftime as the minutes and scoring were distributed throughout the roster.  In turn, bench scoring heavily favored STU who outscored the Gyrenes 25-10 in that category.

 Sophomore starting point guard Kevin Hincapie led all scorers with 16 points as he hit three three-pointers, all in the first half.

“We've been spreading it around all season, we have a number of guys that can score and I think sometimes it's a little too unselfish,” said Maloney.  “But the more we share the ball the better we play.”

The Bobcats finish the regular season tied atop The Sun Conference standings with Northwood, the number two ranked team in the nation.  Northwood won the regular season conference crown over St. Thomas by defeating the Bobcats in both games the two teams played head-to-head.

Conference postseason play begins on Tuesday night at 8 p.m. at the Fernandez Center with St. Thomas hosting the seventh seed in the first round of the 2012 Sun Conference Men's Basketball Championship Presented by Olympus Insurance Company.