Spalding defeated Thomas More College 83-73 Wednesday night at Derek Smith Gymnasium. Jametrius Brasher and Chris McDonald came up huge for the Golden Eagles. Brasher finished with a team high 20 points and 4 rebounds. McDonald came off the bench scoring 17 points and grabbing 7 rebounds. Next the Golden Eagles will head to Las Vegas to compete in the D3hoops Classic December 26th -31st.

A steal by Jametrius Brasher  led to a Robert Pittman layup giving Spalding an early 2-0 lead. A Thomas Blakemore three, and Brasher dunk gave Spalding a 9-4 lead at the 16:34 mark in the first half. Thomas More cut the lead to 9-6 with a runner in the lane, but a driving layup by Dominque Sangester pushed Spalding’s lead back to 5 at 11-6. A Brandon Gabriel three and Chris McDonald layup increased the Golden Eagle lead to 10 at 16-6. Spalding pushed their lead to 12 at 20-8 with a pair of McDonald free throws. A 6-0 Thomas More run cut Spalding’s lead to 6 at 20-14 with 9:38 left in the first half. A Quayshaun Hamilton three pushed the Golden Eagle lead back 9 at 23-14.  A Brasher layup and Sangester three increased the Spalding lead to 11 at 28-17. Five straight points from Chris McDonald pushed Spalding’s lead to 16at 33-17 with 4:50 left in the first half. A McDonald put back, and Brasher jumper put the Golden Eagles up 41-21 with 1:35 left in the first. Spalding led 41-25 at halftime. Jametrius Brasher led the Golden Eagles with 11 points, and Chris McDonald chipped in 10 points off the bench.

Thomas More got on the board first in the second half with a layup by Phil Feinberg cutting Spalding’s lead to 14 at 41-27. Thomas More cut Spalding’s lead to 12, but a Hamilton three pushed the Golden Eagle lead back to 15. Spalding led by 15 at 50-35 with 15:34 to play. Two Feinberg free throws and a layup cut Spalding’s lead to 11 at 50-39 with 13:42 left in the game. A Brasher dunk pushed the Golden Eagle lead back to 13, but a Thomas More three cut Spalding’s lead to 10 at 52-42 with 12:36 left in regulation. A Thomas Blakemore layup sparked a 9-0 Spalding run increasing their lead to 19 at 61-42 with 9:45 to play. Thomas More responded with a 17-4 run cutting Spalding’s lead to 6 at 65-59 with 5:45 left in the game. Two Hamilton free throws pushed Spalding’s lead back to 8, but a pair of Thomas More three pointers cut Spalding’s lead to 2 at 67-65 with 4:26 to play. A pair of Blakemore free throws put Spalding up 4 with 3:51 left in the game. Two Thomas More free throws cut Spalding’s lead to 2, but a huge three by Tyler St. Julian pushed Spalding’s lead to 5 with 3 minutes to play. Thomas More cut the lead to 4 with a free throw, but Spalding answered with a driving layup and free throw by Sangester to go up 7 at 76-69 with 2:08 in the game. Thomas More cut Spalding’s lead to six with a free throw by Ryan Hamm. A Quayshaun Hamilton layup put Spalding up 8 with a minute to play, but a three point play by Thomas More cut Spalding’s lead to 5 at 78-73 with 45.9 seconds left in regulation. Three clutch free throws and a dunk at the buzzer gave Spalding the victory over Thomas More 83-73.

Tags: Men's Basketball //