The St. Thomas Aquinas College men's basketball team fell to a tough 87-85 defeat at the hands of the University of Bridgeport in an East Coast Conference showdown at Aquinas Hall. The Spartans, ranked #10 in this week's NABC national poll and #9 by D2SIDA, had their five-game win streak snapped to fall to 16-3, 6-1, with Bridgeport improving to 15-2, 7-0.

Entering the night as the last two undefeated teams in ECC play, the game lived up to its billing as Bakary Camera's putback of a missed foul shot as the clock expired lifted the Purple Knights to victory.

A flurry of early fouls put the Spartans in a hole with three starters committing two each in the first four minutes of play. With the Spartans holding a narrow 22-20 lead, three pointers by Lou Griffith and Grant Singleton sparked a 10-3 run to open the gap to eight points, extending to a 48-37 STAC lead at halftime.

Griffith's layup extended that lead to 53-37 two minutes into the second, but the Purple Knights would storm back. Camara scored eight straight points in a span of 1:12 to bring the visitors to 56-50, and the run extended to 19-4 as Juan Coffi hit a pair from the line to give UB a 61-60 advantage with 11:22 left. From there the battle was engaged setting the stage for a wild finish.

Hashem Abbas netted a layup and Coffi added two more from the stripe to give Bridgeport an 83-79 edge with 1:26 left. Osbel Caraballo scored and Avante Gilbert added two from the line to tie the score with 46 seconds to play. Coffi made two more from the line and Caraballo went coast-to-coast to tie the score at 85-85 with 8.8 seconds left. D'Vonne Trumbo attacked the basket and was fouled by Caraballo with 1.3 seconds left. Trumbo proceeded to miss both, but on the second shot, Camara soared for the offensive rebound and quick putback, sending the Purple Knights to victory.

Four STAC scorers recorded double-figures with Singleton, Caraballo, and Griffith posting 17 each, and Demetre Roberts just behind with 16. Coffi came off the Bridgeport bench to lead all scorers with 23 - including 10-for-10 from the stripe - with Camara adding 22.

The Spartans return to action this Saturday, January 25, traveling to face the University of the District of Columbia with double-header action starting with the women's teams squaring off at 1:00 pm, followed by the men's teams at 3:00. They return to Aquinas Hall to take on Mercy College on Saturday, February 1, again with a double-header starting at 1:00 pm.