MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – In a battle of Sun Conference heavyweights, St. Thomas (7-6, 2-2) defeated 13^th ranked Northwood (9-4, 2-1) 73-67 on Saturday evening at the Fernandez Family Center. 
 
STU was led by Lorel Beckford who scored 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting to go along with eight rebounds, three assists, three steals and a critical blocked shot in the closing seconds. 
 
With 22 seconds left, Beckford blocked a three-point attempt by Northwood's Chris Solomon to set up a James Vice layup to seal the win.  Vice also scored 15 points with three steals and two assists.
 
Chuckie Becton recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds to go along with a team-high five assists.  Also scoring in double figures for the Bobcats were Michael Walker (13 points) and Tim Sada (11 points).
 
Solomon led the Seahawks with 17 points, while Marcus Hardy and Chris Lee each scored 12 points.  Fred Mattison was NU's leading rebounder with nine, but fouled out with 4:15 left in regulation.
 
St. Thomas led the game by 14 points at halftime and withstood a Northwood scoring run at the start of the second half that brought the score into single digits.  With under a minute to play, the Seahawks closed the gap to three points 70-67.  Vice hit a free throw with 42 seconds remaining, followed by Beckford's block and Vice's subsequent layup.
 
Free throw shooting was a major factor throughout the evening with the Bobcats shooting just 15-31 (48%).  The Seahawks attempted only two free throws in the first half, but went to the line 20 times in the second half.  For the game, Northwood shot 16-22 (73%) from the charity stripe.  However, the Seahawks missed some key free throws late, including a miss by Ian Umpierre whch could have cut STU's to two points with less than a minute to play.
 
St. Thomas returns to action against no. 2 Embry-Riddle (14-0) on Wednesday at the Fernandez Family Center.  Game time is 6 p.m.