(LEXINGTON, Ky.) - Senior shooting guard Aaron Miller (Lexington, Ky./Henry Clay) recorded a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Thomas More College men's basketball team to a 71-69 season opening win over intrastate rival Transylvania University tonight (Monday, November 15, 2010) at the Beck Center in Lexington, Kentucky.

With the win, the Saints are now 1-0 and win the loss, the Pioneers are now 0-1.

Transylvania opened the game on a 7-4 run capped by a layup by Matt Wise with 16:06 to play in the first half.  The Saints answered with a 13-3 run to take a 17-10 lead when senior shooting guard Brian Muse (Bethel, ohio/Bethel) made two free-throws at the 13:47 mark of the opening half.  The Pioneer's Taylor Botkin made a layup to cap an 11-5 run to cut the Saints' lead to 22-21 with 10:17 to play in the half.  Thomas More came right back and used a 14-6 run to extended the lead to 36-27 with 6:33 to play in the first half when Muse made a dunk.  Transylvania closed out the half on an 11-6 run to cut Thomas More's lead to 42-38 at halftime when Chris Owens made a layup with five-seconds to play in the half.

The Pioneers opened the second half on a 4-1 run to cut the lead to 43:42 with 18:51 to play in the game when Botkin made a layup.  Thomas More answered with a 10-4 run capped by a layup by junior center Colt Stafford (Groveport, Ohio/Bishop Hartley) to extend the lead to 53-46 with 13:47 to play.  Transylvania's Ashley Hatfield made a three-pointer with 10:11 to play to cap a 6-2 run to cut Thomas More's lead to 55-52.  With 8:04 to play in the second half Stafford made two free-throws to cap a 7-3 run to increase the Saints' lead to 62-55.  Transylvania answered with an 11-3 run capped by a layup by Owens to give the Pioneers a 66-65 lead with 4:13 to play in the game.  Thomas More then put together a 5-2 run to take a 70-68 lead when 1:53 to play when Stafford made one-of-two free-throws.  Transylvania then cut the lead to 70-69 with 10-seconds to play in the game when Brandon Rash made one-of-two free-throws.  The Saints came right back to extend the lead to 71-69 with seven-seconds to play in the game when Miller made one-of-two free-throws and Transylvania couldn't get a shot off before the buzzer as Thomas More won the game, 71-69.

Joining Miller in double-figure scoring was Stafford with 16 points and junior point guard Daniel Whelan (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier) with 10 points.  Miller, Whelan and freshman point guard Spencer Berlekamp (Cincinnati, Ohio/Kings) each had three assists to lead the team and Miller had a team-high three steals.

The Saints return to action on Friday (November 19) when they travel to Marietta, Ohio to play Maryville (Tenn.) College in the Marietta College Shrine Tournament.  The Saints and Scots will tip-off at 5:30 p.m.