LAKELAND, Fla. – The No. 9 University of North Georgia (UNG) opened the 2024-25 season with an 87-76 win over St. Thomas Aquinas in the 2024 Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic. The Nighthawks overcame an eight-point deficit early in the second half to seal the come-from-behind victory.
Junior guard
Cayden Charles shined with a 28-point, 11-rebound double-double. Charles went 9-for-12 (75%) from the floor and 8-for-9 from the free throw line. His 28 points and nine made field goals are new career highs for the third-year Nighthawk while 11 rebounds tied his previous career mark. Charles added a block and two steals on the defensive end of the floor as well.
Junior guard
AJ White chipped in 17 points, four assists and three rebounds on 6-of-12 shooting.
Freshman forward
Zack Hawkinson impressed in his collegiate debut with 15 points and eight boards. Hawkinson also went 5-for-9 at the charity stripe which included a number of makes in the closing stages of the game to secure the nine-point win.
The game did not start on a bright note for the Nighthawks. The Spartans applied a full-court press that led to 14 UNG turnovers in the opening 20 minutes. St. Thomas Aquinas converted for 14 points off the takeaways and took a 32-28 lead into the locker room at the halftime break.
In the second half, the Nighthawks settled down and began to solve the Spartan pressure.
"[AJ's] ability to inbound the ball in the second half with very little issue really calmed us down and allowed us to make good choices, so really proud of the team," said head coach
Dan Evans after the win.
UNG only committed nine turnovers in the final frame while three Nighthawks put up double-digit scoring efforts in the second half. As a team, UNG shot 71.4% (20-for-28) from the floor and three-point range (5-for-7) in the second half of the game.
"We just regrouped coming out of the locker room," said White. "You can't score points if you keep turning it over. We just regrouped and broke the press, took easy layups, took easy shots and just took what they gave us."
Charles scored 17 of his 28 points in the final 20 minutes while White and Hawkinson scored 12 and 11 second-half points respectively.
Trailing by four points to start the second half, the Nighthawks fell even further behind the Spartans as St. Thomas Aquinas continued to force turnovers. A put back layup from the Spartans with 16:49 left made it a 42-34 ballgame.
A three-pointer from junior transfer
Chris Cole concluded a quick 7-1 UNG run that gave the Nighthawks their first lead of the half at 44-43 with 14:53 to go. From there, the two teams would exchange 12 lead changes over the next five minutes.
In the final 9:38, UNG outscored the Spartans 30-20 to pull away with a quality win against a STAC team that received the sixth most votes of any team outside the top 25 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) preseason poll.
The Nighthawks will now get ready for a matchup with NABC No. 1 and reigning National Champions Minnesota State tomorrow, Sunday, Nov. 3 at 8 p.m. from George W. Jenkins Field House. The Mavericks lost to No. 19 Florida Southern 91-86 in overtime Saturday evening.
"It's pretty cool to experience this against high level teams the opening weekend of the season," said Evans. "It's pretty powerful and it is challenging and it's probably not the most comfortable thing for any of the 10 teams to think that you have to play games at this level so quickly, but I think there is so much learning that comes for everybody from being here and the event has been fantastic."
