(CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky.)- Thomas More University's men's basketball team fell defeated Kent State-Tuscarawas on Saturday (November, 16th) evening by a score of 108 to 54 in the first of two games in the Coach Connor Classic. Thomas More improves to an overall record of 1-1 on the season. Seven different Saints finished in double figures.
- Senior Wyatt Vieth (Hebron, Ky./St. Henry) got the Saints off to a hot start as he knocked down a triple off an assist from redshirt freshman Kai Simpson (Lexington, KY / Fredrick Douglass) to give TMU a 3-0 lead.
- Kai Simpson makes a driving layup off a KSU-T turnover to cap off an opening 12-0 run for Thomas More in the first two minutes of the game.
- Senior Casey George (Pickerington, OH / Pickerington North) ends a five point Golden Eagle run with a backet in the paint. Junior Mitchell Rylee (Ft. Mitchell, KY / Covington Catholic) followed with a bucket to make it a 16 to 5 game with 15 minutes to play.
- Thomas More hits back to back three pointers from sophomores Carson Browne (Cincinnati, OH / Elder) and Cam McClain (Louisville, KY / Louisville Trinity) to make it a 21 to 5 lead for the Saints.
- With 11:55 to go in the half, Cam McClain hits his second triple of the hald to make it a 17 point lead.
- Kai Simpson pushes the TMU lead to 10 with back to back layups as we dip under 10 to play in the half.
- With 7:12 to go in the half, redshirt freshman Jack McCune (Paducah, KY / McCracken County) makes a pair of free-throws for his first collegiate points.
- With 5:35 to go, McCune hits his first three pointer of his career to make the score 42 to 23.
- Thomas More takes a 50 to 40 lead into the half.
- Thomas More shot 20/33 from the court (60.6%) and 6-16 from beyond the arc (37.5) for the half.
- Kai Simpson led all scores with 10 points along with 4 assists.
- Casey George got the Saints started in the second half with a jumper off an assist from junior Ryan Paris (Hilliard, OH / Hilliard Davidson). (52-40)
- Ryan Paris knocks down two three pointers in a row to stretch the Saint lead to 20 with 17:11 to go.
- Mitchell Rylee goes on a personal four point run for the Saints to make it a 66 to 41 game with 14:29 to go.
- Wyatt Vieth knocks down another three pointer, and is followed by a Casey George layup to make it a 74 to 44 game with 13:15 to go.
- McCune drills another three pointer and later tallies back to back buckets to make it a 40 point lead for the Saints with 10:33 to go.
- McCune caps off a solo 9 to 1 run with a three pointer and-one. After making the free throw the score sat at 88 to 45 Thomas More.
- Two straight layups and a three pointer all from Carson Browne made the score 98 to 45 with 6:31 to go.
- With 5:44 to go in the game, freshman Jashaun Pouncy (Erlanger, KY / Cooper) gets a rebound and makes a put back layup for his first collegiate points and putting the saints over the 100 point mark.
- With 2:20 to go in the game, freshman Will Frey (Cincinnati, OH / Colerain) makes a jumper to record his first collegiate points.
- Freshman Tyler Johnson (Cincinnati, OH / Elder) records his first collegiate points with 1:47 to go on a layup following a rebound to make the score 108 to 52.
- Jack McCune led all scores with 19 points in the game. He went 6 for 9 from the field.
- Mitchell Rylee led the team in rebounds with 9. He also recorded 11 points and 3 assists.
- Kai Simpson tallied a team high 5 assists to go with 14 points and 7 rebounds.
- The Saints were 56% (42-75) from the field, 33.3% (13-39) from the 3-point line, and 91.7% (11-12) from the free throw line.
The Saints return to action tomorrow in the Connor Classic against UC-Clermont at 3:00 pm in the Connor Convocation Center.
