The No. 23 ranked Florida Memorial Men's basketball (14-5, 10-1 TSC) defeated St. Thomas University (16-7, 7-4 TSC) 79-73 Thursday night in Sun Conference (TSC) action at the Fernandez Family Center.
 
Florida Memorial raced out to a 7-1 lead to start the game, behind a combination of strong post play and hot shooting from the perimeter. Then, St. Thomas went on a 14-5 run to go up 33-19 with 5:08 to go in the half.  Florida Memorial answered back with a 13-0 run to close out the half. The teams went to the locker room with St. Thomas leading 38-33. 
 
Both teams came out of the locker room with the same pace as the first half. Florida Memorial and St. Thomas slugged it out over the first ten minutes of the second half, matching one another point-for-point. The Lions took its first lead 58-57 in the second half. FMU scored down the stretch to close out the game and earn the 79-73 win.
 
Florida Memorial finished the night shooting 44.6 (29-of 65) percent from the floor, which included shooting 32.0 (8-of-25) percent from beyond the arc. The Lions also finished the night 59.1 (13-of-22) percent from the free-throw line, while forcing 16 turnovers.
 
Charlie Nedd-Araujo finished with a team-high 21 points, with two three-pointers, while also grabbing three rebounds in the win. Aaron Bryant finished with 15 points and Kody Williams had 14 points off the bench and seven rebounds. Davon Williams added 11 points, while grabbing 10 rebounds, and Jaelyn Johnson-Coston finished with 10 points and 6 rebounds.
 
Florida Memorial returns to action against Thomas University in conference action on the road on Saturday.
 
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