The St. Thomas Aquinas College men's basketball team jumped out to an early lead and held off Goldey-Beacom College for a 77-73 victory in a non-conference battle. The Spartans remain undefeated at 3-0 on the season, while Goldey-Beacom suffered its third straight tough loss to fall to 0-3.

Playing their third straight on the road, the Spartans took control early, overcoming a 5-2 deficit with a 14-2 run, opening a 16-7 lead five minutes into the game. Louis Griffith hit a pair of treys as STAC roared to a 37-15 lead with seven minutes left to intermission, but GBC stormed back. The Lightning lived up to their nickname as four different players struck from beyond the arc, and Juran Ligonde scored in the waning seconds to cap a 22-4 explosion, trimming the deficit to just 41-37 at halftime.

Kevin Lynch scored to give STAC a 47-42 lead, but Goldey reeled off the next eight points, with Nazim Derry's three-pointer at 14:11 giving the hosts a 50-47 lead, their first since the opening minutes. Sekou Cisse and Osbel Caraballo hit jumpers and Cisse added a pair from the line to put the Spartans back on top at 53-50, and the defense clamped down, allowing five points in a span of over six minutes as Grant Singleton hit two from the stripe to open a 62-55 gap with 7:11 left.

Once again, the Lightning struck back, with Marcellus Livingston's trey tying the score at 64-64, but Demetre Roberts reeled off the next four points to put the visitors back on top. From there, St. Thomas Aquinas hit nine of 12 from the stripe to secure the four-point victory.

Cisse came off the bench to lead four STAC scorers in double-figures with 18 points, while Caraballo added 16 (with a game-high 11 rebounds) and Demetre Roberts and Griffith chipping in 14 each. Livingston recorded a game-high 19 to lead four players in double-figures for GBC.

The Spartans play their fourth straight on the road to start the season, traveling to Holy Family University for a 3:00 pm start on Saturday, November 16, before finally playing their Home Opener at Aquinas Hall on Wednesday, November 20, hosting Adelphi University for another big regional showdown with a 7:00 pm tip.