MIAMI GARDENS, FLA. (January 19^th, 2019) – The St. Thomas University Bobcats Men's Basketball team (7-11, 6-4 TSC) swept the season "Battle of Miami Gardens" series over cross-town rival, Florida Memorial University (3-19, 1-9 TSC) as the Bobcats defeated the Lions 80-78 from the Fernandez Family Center on Saturday evening.

In game one of the season series between STU and FMU, St. Thomas defeated Florida Memorial 84-73 from the Lion's Den on November 17th, 2018.

As part of the "Battle of Miami Gardens", STU President, David J. Armstrong J.D. invited the Mayor of Miami Gardens, Oliver Gilbert, and Florida Memorial University President, Jaffus Hardrick, to several shooting competitions (Free Throws, Three-Point, Half-Court). Mayor Gilbert claimed victory in the contests and brought home the trophy.

Game Notes

• St. Thomas opened the game on a 7-0 run, as Philip Saunders scored the first five Bobcat points and Kheron Millwood added a lay-up to force FMU to burn their first timeout 1:19 into the game.
• STU found themselves up nine points, 12-3, within six minutes, as Saunders added his second three-point bucket of the game.
• Justin Brown added a lay-up, as part of his 18-points, to keep the STU lead at seven points, 21-14, with seven minutes remaining in the first half.
• Florida Memorial claimed their first lead of the first half, at 22-21, with just five minutes remaining in the first half.
• Brown threw down a monster dunk, two minutes later to put the Bobcats back in the lead as the junior capitalized on a Lion turnover after a Daejour Adderley steal as part of a fastbreak.
• The Bobcats went into the halftime break trailing the Lions, 38-32.
• Saunders started the second half, the same way he started the first half, by knocking in one of his career-high seven three-pointers to cut the Lion lead in half at 38-35.
• A quick 7-0 run to start the half gave the Bobcats their first lead of the second half; as in addition to the Saunders three, Millwood and Brown each added buckets to put STU back in front of the Lions.
• Saunders added back-to-back three-point buckets to extend the Bobcat lead to 45-40.
• With under six minutes remaining in the second half, Florida Memorial re-claimed the lead following a three-point bucket of their own, before Brown converted five consecutive points to put the Bobcats back in the lead at 72-71.
• Brown finished his second dunk of the game with two minutes, as the junior converted a put-back slam following a rebound on a missed three-pointer.
• With just seventeen seconds remaining in the game, St. Thomas was trailing Florida Memorial 79-78 with Brown at the line for three free throws. Brown missed the first, made the second and missed the third attempt, a tremendous hustle play by Adderley got the Bobcats the ball and Adderley finished a lay-up to seal the season sweep of Florida Memorial, as the Bobcats won 80-78.

Inside the Numbers

• Aaron Dutcher provided some muscle in the paint for STU, as the senior earned his first double-double and helped lead the Bobcat effort in outscoring Florida Memorial 44-26 in the painted area.
• The cross-town rivals played back-and-forth in the "Battle of Miami Gardens" as both teams earned the lead eight times in the contest.

Bobcat Ballers

• Philip Saunders: 25 points (career-high), 7-15 3PA (career-high) and five steals
• Justin Brown: 18 points, 7-10 FGA, and five rebounds
• Aaron Dutcher: 13 points, 12 rebounds (first double-double of the season)

Upcoming
St. Thomas will have their longest road-trip of the season this upcoming week, traveling to play both Thomas University and the College of Coastal Georgia in Sun Conference play. The first game of the road-trip will be on January 24^th against the Thomas University Nighthawks with tip-off scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
-STU-