MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – 18th ranked St. Thomas (12-5, 6-1 TSC) defeated conference rival Warner (12-6, 4-3 TSC)  89-79 on Saturday evening at the Fernandez Family Center. The Bobcats took the victory with a strong second half in what was billed as The Sun Conference Game of the Week. 

With the win, St. Thomas remains in first place in The Sun Conference standings.

Raheem Bowman recorded a double-double with 20 points and 13 rebounds with seven of his boards coming on the offensive end.  Timothy Sada scored 14 points on four made three-pointers and Fotios Malelis scored 14 points as well.  Mikon Hewitt and Philip Saunders each scored nine points with Hewitt also dishing out six assists.  Darwin Trotman pulled down seven rebounds to go along with six assists.

The Bobcats limited their mistakes in the contest, committing just 10 turnovers in the contest.  In the second half, STU caught fire offensively, shooting 55% from the field and hitting on 5-of-8 shots from beyond the arc.  Malelis scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half, shooting 5-of-6 from the field in the stanza.  Saunders scored all nine of his points in the second half, hitting on three three-pointers.  Sada also drained a key three-pointer in the second half that helped put the Bobcats in control going down the stretch.

In all, STU outscored Warner 46-37 in the second half, after leading by just one point at halftime.  The Bobcats came out of intermission on fire, going on a 10-1 run aided by two three-pointers by Saunders to open the half.  The Royals cut STU's lead to five points midway through the final period until Sada drained a key three-pointer in the second half that helped put the Bobcats in control going down the stretch.

St. Thomas returns to action on Monday night at 7 p.m. at the Fernandez Family Center vs. The University of the Bahamas.