Saints' Upset Bid Falls Short in 66-64 Loss to No. 7 Williams

Game Leaders

Williams
Pts: James Klemm - 15
Reb: 4 Players (#05, #24, #31, #50 - 6)
Ast: Taylor Epley - 5
Thomas More
Pts: Colt Stafford - 19
Reb: Colt Stafford - 9
Ast: Ryan Hamm - 5

Team Stats

Williams
Thomas More

Field Goals

(25-60)
(22-54)

Field Goal %

41.7%
40.7%

Rebounds

41
30

Assists

14
12

Turnovers

10
10

Pts off Turnovers

11
16

2nd Chance Pts

16
7

Pts in the Paint

34
24

Fastbreak Pts

0
4

Bench Pts

18
15
full stats
More news about: Thomas More
Dec 29, 2011

(CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky.) - The Thomas More College men's basketball team's upset bid falls short as it fell, 66-64, to No. 7-ranked Williams College tonight (Thursday, December 29, 2011) in the championship game of the Coach Connor Classic at the Connor Convocation Center in Crestview Hills, Kentucky.

With the loss, the Saints fall to 8-4 and with the win, the Ephs improve to 10-1.

Thomas More jumped out to a 10-5 lead with 17:12 to play in the first half when senior center Colt Stafford (Groveport, Ohio/Bishop Hartley) made a lay-up.  Williams answered with a 26-10 run capped by a lay-up by Michael Mayer to take a 31-20 lead with 5:13 to play in the opening half.  The Saints responded with a 10-1 run to cut the lead to 32-30 when Stafford made on-of-two free-throws with 41-seconds to play in the first half.  Mayer made a lay-up with 15-seconds to play in the half to extend the Ephs' lead to 34-30 at halftime.

Williams opened the second half on an 18-17 run to extend the lead to 52-47 with 8:24 to play in the game when Brian Emerson made a lay-up. Thomas More answered with a 13-6 run capped by a lay-up by junior small forward Ethan King (Maysville, Ky./Mason County) to take a 60-58 lead with 3:46 to play in the game.  The Ephs' responded with a 3-0 run to take a 61-60 lead with 2:26 to play in the game when Emerson made one-of-two free-throws.  The Saints used a 4-2 run to take a 64-63 lead with two-seconds to play in the game when junior small forward Phil Feinberg (Tempe, Ariz./Corona Del Sol) made two free-throws.  Williams' James Wang was then fouled with 0.3-seconds to play and made all three free-throws for the 66-64 victory.

Two Saints reached double-figure scoring as Stafford had a game-high 19 points and Feinberg added 18.  Stafford led the Saints on the boards with a game-high nine rebounds, while Feinberg added eight.  Junior point guard Ryan Hamm (Maysville, Ky./Mason County) led the team in assists with five.  After the game, Whelan was named to the Academic All-Tournament Team.

Thomas More returns to Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) action next Wednesday (January 4, 2012) as it travels to Greenville, Pennsylvania to play Thiel College at 7:30 p.m.