After trailing by eight points in the waning minutes, the St. Thomas Aquinas College men's basketball team had two chances to tie in the final minute but fell short at Molloy College, 70-67. Justin Brown led way with 18 points for the Spartans, who fell to 1-5 overall and 1-1 in the East Coast Conference, with Molloy improving to 4-3, 1-1.

In what would be a game of runs, Molloy bolted to a 9-2 lead early on, but the Spartans would post 13 unanswered of their own minutes later to grab a 21-15 lead. The pendulum would swing back to the hosts with a 15-2 burst to recapture the edge at 32-26, but STAC would battle back to fittingly send the teams into the halftime locker room with a 39-39 tie.

Again, it would be the Lions taking charge after the break, reeling off nine straight to grab a 50-41 lead, only to see the visitors respond with a 9-1 burst to trim the margin to one. Molloy would follow with the game's decisive burst, as their 9-0 run opened the biggest lead of the contest at 61-51 with nine minutes remaining.

This time, STAC would have to chip away, still trailing 67-59 with just over five minutes left. STAC's defense would bear down, holding the Lions to just three points over the final 5:23 and a Brown three-pointer with 1:36 left drew the Spartans to within three. St. Thomas Aquinas would have two opportunities to tie thereafter, but a Brown three was off-target, and Sam Wilson's attempt in the final second of play was blocked by Molloy's John Petrucelli to preserve the victory.

Omar Kellman added 15 points and seven rebounds while teammate TJ Jones chipped in with 13 for STAC. Brandon Williams paced Molloy with 18 points, with teammate Richard Zoller posting 12 and Tyler Hammett recording 11 and a game-high nine boards. Molloy shot 44% from the field on the afternoon (28-63) while STAC struggled at 37% (21-57). The Lions also held the decisive edge on the boards, outrebounding the Spartans, 41-34.

The Spartans return to action on Saturday, December 15, hosting nearby rival Dominican College in a non-conference tilt at 3:00 at Aquinas Hall. The game follows the women's contest between the Lady Spartans and Pace University, set for a 1:00 pm tipoff.