MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (March 12, 2024) - The St. Thomas University (STU) Men's Basketball team is set to host the NAIA First and Second round inside the Fernandez Family Center. The three other teams making the trip to Miami Gardens are Pikeville from Kentucky, The Masters from Califronia, and Webber International. The first game will be this Friday the 15th as your Bobcats take on Pikeville at 5 pm, followed directly by The Masters going up against Webber International at 7:30 pm. The second round game will be on Saturday at 6 pm, with the victors of the Friday games going head to head for a chance to go to Kansas City. 

The Bobcats really turned their season around after falling just short in early Sun Conference match ups. They were able to reach the Sun Conference Championship game, falling just short to cross town rival Florida Memorial. Milton Matthews who has been the guy for STU all season, had another great game in the loss to the Lions. He shot seven for 17 from the floor, and hit seven from beyond the arch totaling 23 points. Anthony Harris is also a guy who came on strong towards the end of the year. Harris tallied 18 points and five rebounds in the ballgame. Cearius Warren has also been a big part of the Bobcats success under the basket, and in the game against the Lions he had 13 rebounds. As a team this season STU has a .468 field goal percentage, a .374 three point percentage, and a .648 free throw percentage.

Moving on to Pikeville the opponent for the Bobcats. The Bears had a solid season, going 23-7 overall and 20-4 in the AAC. They too came up just short in their conference championship, losing to Columbia International 91-86. In that game their big man Issac Stanback had a double-double with 22 points, and 12 rebounds. Pikeville also had three other scorers with double digits, with Keian Worrix having 19, Kyonte Thomas with 18, and Bradley Bunch with 10. The Bears shot 16 from behind the arch, making five, but thier offense revovles around getting the ball moving and finding Stanback inside where he goes to work. As a team this season they shot .501 from the floor, .376 from beyond the arch, and .649 from the line.

The Masters are an NAIA power with a good resume. The Mustangs sit at 22- 8 overall, and 10-4 in the GSAC. They played in the GSAC Championship game, losing to Arizona Christian 96-95 in a very close game. Ty Harper went crazy in that game, notching 37 points and going 12 for 23 from the floor, three for eight from three, and making all 10 of his free throws. Harper is a dominant scorer who works fast and drives to the bucket. Kaleb Lowery is also a guy to watch out for, as he had a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Their field goal percentage on the season was .472, they had a .361 three point percentage, and are very good at the charity stripe with a .727 percentage. 

No stranger to the Fernandez Family Center are the Webber International Warriors, who were just here at the beginning of the month for the Sun Conference post season. The Bobcats defeated the Warriors in the Semifinals in a game that was dominated by STU. Webber finished the season 20-10 overall, and 7-7 in the Sun Conference. In the Semifinal match against the Bobcats two players stood out with Eden Holt having 14 points, and Orri Hilmarsson with 13 points. This season the Warriors shot .441 from the floor, .375 from beyond the arch, and .739 from the line.