WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The No. 20 Warner University men’s basketball team advanced to the championship game of The Sun Conference tournament after defeating No. 11 St. Thomas University 89-80 in the semifinals on Friday night. The third seeded Royals made 22 free throws in the second half to move on to their first finals appearance under six year head coach Sean Hanrahan. The win also improves the Royals’ record to 23-9; the loss drops the Bobcats to 22-8 on the season.
The Bobcats looked like the team to beat in the opening minutes of the game taking a 7-0 lead after just over a minute of action. Hot-shooting Ian Wilhelm gave the Royals their first points and the Warner offense took shape at the 18:25 mark. While the Warner offense slowly warmed up the Bobcats did not wait, running up an 11-2 score to start the game. The Royals responded with five straight points of their own but would play catch-up the entire first half.
At the 7:55 mark Wilhelm connected on a 3-pointer to cut the Bobcats’ lead to two (23-21), but the Royals would not get any closer trailing by as many as 13 points with three minutes left before halftime. The Royals did manage to close out the half with some momentum. Over the final three minutes the Royals outscored the Bobcats 12-5; Bryce Kachinski had six points during the run. St. Thomas maintained their advantage at the break 41-35.
A 10-4 run by Warner to start the second half brought the game to its first tie (45-45) at the 15:27 mark; Ray Victor punctuated the run with a shot from behind the arc on a pass from Kachinski. After trading buckets for the next minute, Victor again was in the mix, this time putting the Royals out in front 49-47. As the Warner offense picked up their tempo, the Bobcats’ attack slowed and struggled. As a team, they shot 29.7% from the field in the second half.
With the Bobcats now playing catch up, the Warner offense thrived taking their first double-digit lead (71-60) at the 5:06 mark. Foul trouble doomed the Royals in their last regular season contest against the Bobcats back on February 4th. This time around, however, the tables were turned the Bobcats found themselves in foul trouble down the stretch. Warner went to the free throw line 28 times in the second half connecting on 22 shots (78.6%). St. Thomas’ Eugene Davis made two rainbow 3-pointers as time ticked down under a minute but Wilhelm and Brandon Poore iced the game with their free throws.
Ian Wilhelm led the Royals with 23 points on 6-of-13 shooting. The Second Team All-Conference selection was also 9-of-10 from the charity stripe. Bryce Kachinski came off the bench to score 18 points shooting 4-of-8 from behind the arc. First Team All-Conference selection Malcolm Campbell had a quiet night adding 14 points of his own in the victory. Mark St. Fort was the leading rebounder for the Royals with seven boards.
Eugene Davis led all players with 29 points in the game for St. Thomas. Second Team All-Conference member Kevin Hincapie scored 11 points in the loss as well.
On Championship Saturday the Royals will face off against top seeded and NAIA-II No. 1 Northwood University. The Seahawks defeated Embry-Riddle University 80-64 in the other semifinal match. Tip-off for the tournament finale is set for 7 p.m.