HOUSTON – The University of St. Thomas dropped its first game since late October, falling to Huston-Tillotson, 100-86, Saturday in the Red River Athletic Conference opener.
It snapped a seven-game winning streak for the Celts, who fell to 7-2, 0-1 RRAC. Huston-Tillotson improved to 3-2, 1-0.
Nathan Thormaehlen (JR/Katy, Texas) canned a three with just over 16:00 left to pull St. Thomas within 50-39. Thormaehlen scored on a putback to cut it to 50-44. Huston-Tillotson extended its lead back to 66-53 on a triple by John Coakley Jr. with 11:29 remaining.
The Rams bumped their lead out to 20, but Paris Marquez (SR/Atascocita, Texas) converted a three-point play, and Kennard Robinson (JR/Houston, Texas) found Orowo Eleyae (SR/Houston, Texas) down low to pull the Celts within 13 at the 5:50 mark. Marquez came up with a steal and fed Eleyae for a bucket to make it 84-73. Eleyae's Eurostep lay-in pulled UST within 84-76. But the Celts couldn't overcome the Rams in the closing minutes.
Thormaelen finished with 26 points and 12 rebounds. He was 9 of 13 from the floor, including 7 of 11 from three-point range. Eleyae had 22 points and six boards. Marquez scored 18 points and had four assists. Kennard Robinson had seven points, 11 assists and two steals.
Alex Doche and Keith Broome each scored 24 for the Rams, who shot 51 percent in the second half.
UST fell behind 25-16 on a driving layup by Doche, but Flores and Kennard Robinson hit back-to-back threes to pull the Celts within six. Doche buried back-to-back triples of his own, and then hit a turnaround baseline jumper to extend the Rams lead out to 38-23 with 4:50 to play in the first half. Huston-Tillotson took a 45-26 lead into the break.
The Celts committed 12 of their 17 turnovers in the first half. The Rams had three turnovers in the first half. UST went 5-for-14 from the free throw line in the opening half, and finished the game 18 of 34 from the stripe.
St. Thomas will play at Our Lady of the Lake 7:30 p.m. Thursday and at the University of the Southwest 4 p.m. next Saturday. The Celts return home 7 p.m. Dec. 28 to host Haskell Indian Nations University in the UST Classic.
