Brenden-Lankford Johnson led Stillman with 17 points and seven rebounds. Michael Taylor scored a career-high 16 points off the bench, while Daviyon Dennis scored 13 and Khalil Johnson added 12 points. Marcus Bates Jr had eight rebounds and a block, while Jordan Bell had seven boards.

The Tigers opened the game with a brief 4-0 lead, but St. Thomas quickly flipped the script, leading 13-8 after seven minutes of action. Stillman shot only 35.7% in the first half and made 2-of-3 free throws, while the Bobcats were 8-of-8 from the line and shot 54.5% from the floor to build a 37-22 halftime lead.

Stillman trailed by as many as 19 points in the first half and 17 points, 41-24, early in the second half. The Tigers whittled it to a single-point game, 47-38, after a trio of Khalil Johnson free throws with 13:27 left in the game. Though STU pushed the lead back to 13 points, Stillman responded with a 10-0 run to create a one-possession game, 51-48 with 9:22 remaining.

The Tigers were unable to pull ahead of the Bobcats, which later used their own 10-0 run to turn a 57-53 game into a 14-point lead, 67-53, with less than five minutes on the clock.

Stillman kept fighting, cutting the score to four points, 69-65, on a Michael Taylor basket with 2:00 to play, but STU shooters made 7-of-8 free throws in the last two minutes to keep their lead. Bailey Talley hit a 3-pointer with seven seconds left to cut it back to a single-possession, 78-75, but Kyle Feldman hit 1-of-2 at the free throw line to help ice the game with six seconds left.

Both teams shot around 48% from the field and 82% from the free throw line in the second half.

Joshya Thrower led all players with 32 points for St. Thomas. James Harris III followed with 14 points.