LAKELAND, Fla. – A steal with eight-seconds to play would seal the Saint Leo men's basketball's 88-84 win over Midwestern State to start things off inside the George W. Jenkins Field House in game one of the Terrace Hotel Thanksgiving Classic. Senior Tyreece Brice would snag the lob with eight-seconds to go to seal the win after draining his two free throws on the other.
 
Saint Leo (5-4) erased a 21-point deficit to come back and take the game by four. The Lions trailed by 21 with 5:57 remaining in the first half before trailing by just two at the break. Saint Leo would charge out and hold a six-point lead, their largest of the game, at the 6:13 mark of the second half.
 
"We are still young, and the guys are inexperience but they showed some fight and courage against Midwestern State," Saint Leo's Head Coach Vince Alexander mentioned. "We took an early lead but then we couldn't keep it. Our shot selection was poor for a stretch and we needed to get our guys to drive, and they finally started to listen and drive the ball."
 
On the day, the Lions were led by Tyreece Brice and DeAndre King, as the duo scored 23 points apiece. Junior Searcy added 11 points while Isaiah Hill chipped in with 10. Brice finished the night with seven assists and five steals while adding four rebounds. Hill paced the Green and Gold on the glass with eight rebounds.
 
Alexander added, "Seeing DeAndre [King] find his rhythm after a 1-3 start from downtown was helpful, along with Tyreece's [Brice] energy allowed us to come back and cut it to two at the break. We came out a little slow in the second half but then the guys started going again and we were able to fight. Tyreece's steal at the end was huge."
 
"We knew [Trey] Kennedy was going to shoot it, but didn't expect him to try to pass that off where Brice cut the lane. We made our free throws tonight which was big. When you're going to the line 26 times, it's nice to see 22 of those go in. We will work on getting the rest of those in but we need to focus on not turning the ball over and grabbing rebounds."
 
As a team, the Lions shot 48.3-percent (28-58) from the field while adding a red-hot 84.6-percent from the free throw line (22-28). Beyond the arc, the Lions finished 10-for-23, 43.5-percent, led by King and Brice, who went 4-for-7 and 3-for-5, respectively.
 
The Basics
Final Score: Saint Leo 88, Midwestern State 84
Location: George W. Jenkins Field House | Lakeland, Fla.
Records: Saint Leo 5-4 | Midwestern State 2-4

How It Happened…
1H | Saint Leo came out of the gates hot as the Lions claimed a 10-5 lead with three-straight trips of points to the 17:06 mark where Midwestern State called time. The Mustangs cut it to 10-7 with 15:46 to play after three empty trips by the Lions. A DeAndre King three would push the Lions to a four point lead, 13-9 before the Mustangs came sprinting back and went on a 26-6 run to take a 35-19 lead to the 7:24 mark. Midwestern State would push their lead to 21, 42-21 with 5:44 to play before the Lions used an 17-0 run to cut the game to just four-points, 42-38. The Lions fast pace and defense helped the Green and Gold claim a late lead, 44-43 after six-straight points from Kyran McClure; McClure went to the line and made all three free throws followed by a three-pointer on the next trip down the court. Over the remaining minute of action, the two teams would exchange points where the Mustangs got the final bucket on a layup where Devante Chatman converted the and-one to push the Midwestern State lead to two points at the break. | Midwestern State 48-46 |
 
2H | Midwestern State came out and scored the first bucket to push it to four points, 50-46 before Tyreece Brice ran down the court and laid it in to cut it back to two, 50-48. Junior Searcy would make a layup to tie it at 50-50 with 18:27 to play. The Mustangs would make a quick 6-0 run to take a 56-50 lead before Jesse Huff and Brice made back-to-back three's to tie things at 56-56 into the 15:41 media timeout. Both teams would capture a lead before the Lions' defense made a stop and allowed for the Green and Gold to take a three point lead, 61-58, highlighted by a Brice steal and alley-oop to Searcy forcing a Mustang timeout with 14:13 to play. Out of their timeout, the Mustangs sprinted out to a quick five-point lead, 67-63 with three straight trips ending with a three-pointer. Saint Leo would regain the lead with a 15-4 run, 78-71, capped off with an Isaiah Hill steal and slam on the fast break. Both teams would fail to make a field goal prior to DeAndre King's layup at 3:56, giving the Lions an 81-75 lead. Devante Pullum would hit a floater on the other end to keep it 81-77 Saint Leo prior to Earl Russell's two free throws, 83-77 with 3:15 to play. Midwestern State rallied back to claim an 84-83 lead with 38-ticks left before DeAndre King nailed a three-pointer to push the Lions ahead 86-84 with 24.1 remaining. On the final Mustangs possession, Tyreece Brice would come up huge and steal the ball before getting fouled, and making his two free throws as the Lions went on for the four-point victory. | Saint Leo 88-84 |
 
Points to Note

• The Lions overcame their largest deficit of the season (21-points) in the first half to cut it to two before taking a four-point win.
• Tyreece Brice's 23 points pushes his career number, in the Green and Gold, to 918. Brice finished the night shooting 8-for-13 including a 3-for-4 mark from downtown. The senior guard added a 4-for-4 mark from the free throw line.
• DeAndre King's 23 points are his career-high. King finished the night 8-for-14 from the field including 4-for-7 from downtown. King added a 3-for-4 mark from the charity stripe.
• The Lions outscored the Mustangs 28-16 in the paint while the teams were even on points off the turnover, 20-20.  

For Midwestern State

• Midwestern State falls to 2-4 after blowing a 21-point margin in the first half.
• Midwestern State was led by Trey Kennedy and Logan Hicks who notched 17 points apiece followed by Devante Pullum's 12.
• The Mustangs won the rebounding title, 32-30, and the second chance points, 10-8, while scoring 10 more points in bench points, 25-15.

Saint Leo returns to the George W. Jenkins Field House on Nov. 25 to take on No. 13 Le Moyne College at 5:30 p.m. to close out the Lions' play in the Terrace Hotel Thanksgiving Classic.
 
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