By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
Thomas More’s Saints have Division I size with starters 6-foot-9, 6-8, 6-5, 6-5 and 6-3.
And they have a chance. To be pretty good and a factor in the maybe deepest-ever Great Midwest Athletic Conference this year as they finish up the 2025 part of their schedule 7-4. Take away the two league losses in three overtimes and it’s 9-2 and a tie for the league lead.
Will the memory of those two December losses haunt him – or at least remain in the front of his brain — well, forever, Coach Justin Ray was asked.
His smile is all the answer you need. He’s been coaching college basketball 18 years now and Ray can recall a final play that didn’t go right from “a game from Year 1,” he says. So yes, the answer is in the affirmative. Some games, some losses, never leave you.
But it’s the thought that this team wasn’t ever going to be what it could be without “rebounding and playing defense,” Ray says bluntly, that he’s thinking about. “Since those two tough losses (91-89 in two overtimes to Ashland and 102-100 in OT to Northwood on the road), there’s been a lot of conversation about that.”
As there was in Wednesday’s 92-61 rout of a Kentucky State team that’s been off since Dec. 6 and not playing like itself, Ray said of the school’s closing in the aftermath of a student shot and killed in a December campus disturbance.
“That team’s much better than we made them look,” Ray says, approving of the way his guys rebounded (a 55-39 advantage) and defended holding, KSU to 27.9 percent shooting (19 of 68, one of 18 from three with four blocked shots) while shooting 48.3 percent (35 of 71, with 14 three-pointers on 32 attempts) themselves.
But if there was one stat that jumps off the page, it’s TMU’s 30-5 assist differential. Three Saints had five assists or more including 6-8, 240-pound Mitchell Rylee who had five assists to his four points and seven rebounds with lots of give-and-go action through the post. Colin McHale’s seven assists led the Saints while 6-3 guard Kai Simpson had five to go with his game-high 10 rebounds and 13 points.
Leading the Saints’ scoring were Ryan Paris and Colin McHale, a pair of 6-5 Ohio guys, while 6-9 Carson Browne, an Elder product added 10. Together, the trio knocked down eight of TMU’s 14 threes.
“I think there’s much more room for growth,” Ray said of how hard he’s coaching this team. “We’re one of the worst defensive teams in our league and one of the best offensive teams.”
And maybe they tend to lose focus a bit, as they did with three quick turnovers up 33 points in the second half when a disgusted Ray called a timeout that began with three of his first five words that can’t be printed here: “Don’t bleeping do bleeping bleep,” he greeted his huddling team.
“We were up 30 and playing like it,” Ray said. “We haven’t been mentally tough.”
And Ray doesn’t like it when they do that. So another conversation took place.
And an understanding was reached. The Saints didn’t do that the rest of the way.
As for where this team is headed in a GMAC with tough teams everywhere you look, “It’s good to get that game before we get back into the league,” Ray says of a schedule that has them playing three league games at home the first 10 days in January (Ohio Dominican Jan. 5, Northwood Jan. 8 and Hillsdale Jan. 10). And it’s up to these players to make the call as to where they’ll be come March and tournament time.
One thing’s for certain. They’ll be a typical TMU team, with nine Greater Cincinnati players, 15 high school recruits and just two transfers.
Contrast that with the Kentucky State roster that, like much of college sports these days, has players from 11 states and Australia, 10 of them transfers, and just three from Kentucky.
One of those is Lloyd Memorial alum Jeramiah Israel, a transfer from NKU, playing his first game for the Thorobreds. He scored six points on a field goal and was four-for-four from the line.
SCORING SUMMARY
Kentucky State 19 42—61
Thomas More 42 50—92
KENTUCKY STATE (2-6):
Melvin 2 0 5 9, Paige 1 0 2 4, Blackwell 6 1 3 16, Wofford 5 0 3 13, Henderson 0 0 0 0, Keary 0 0 2 2, Boyd 3 0 1 7, Hall 1 0 1 3, Maier 0 0 1 1, Israel 1 0 4 6: TOTALS: 19 1 22—61.
THOMAS MORE (7-4):
Browne 4 2 0 10, Rylee 2 0 0 4, Paris 6 5 0 17, Simpson 5 2 1 13, McHale 6 1 1 14, Pouncy 3 0 2 8, McClure 2 2 2 8, Crowe 3 0 1 7, McCune 1 1 0 3, McClain 0 0 0 0, Johnson 0 0 1 1, Mallernee 1 1 0 3, Frey 2 0 0 4; TOTALS 35 14 8—92.
