The St. Thomas Aquinas College men's basketball team grabbed an 88-83 overtime victory over the University of the District of Columbia in an East Coast Conference battle at Aquinas Hall. The Spartans wrap up the regular season at 23-5 overall and 13-3 in the ECC, moving into sole possession of second place, one-half game ahead of Daemen College, which finishes its schedule at New York Tech on Sunday. If Daemen wins that game, a tiebreaker will determine which of the team takes the #2 seed and along with it, the first round bye into the ECC Tournament semi-finals.
Osbel Caraballo's jumper was the only scoring in over the first three minutes as both teams started slow offensively. Brandon Smith's three-pointer opened the lead to 8-0 for the Spartans nearly five minutes in before the Firebirds got on the board on a Quran Dublin three, the first of 17 on the afternoon for the visitors. Another three from Smith and a Jamar Sudan dunk opened the gap to 13-3, but Cheyenne Nettleton caught fire with back-to-back threes - two of his eight from beyond the arc on the day - to close to 26-24 with 6:16 left in the half.
STAC reeled off the next seven points before settling for a 37-30 edge at intermission, but UDC scored five points in 45 seconds after the break to quickly draw back within two. The Spartans enjoyed the lead that had held since the early seconds until Kerry Kirkwood struck from deep to tie the score at 42-42 with 13:40 on the clock. This time it was Demetre Roberts who stood tall with five points in a 7-0 answer as STAC took the edge back at 49-42.
Prolific perimeter shooting kept the Firebirds in the contest until they grabbed their first lead at 62-61 on a Zachary Olaukani pair of free throws with 6:12 to go, but that lead lasted 19 seconds as Grant Singleton buried a jumper to put his team back on top. That was the onset of a 9-0 Spartans run to take a seemingly-commanding 70-62 lead with 3:21 left. Nettleton continued his unconscious shooting with a short jumper followed by back-to-back threes for a total of eight points in 61 seconds, tying the score at 70-70.
A Caraballlo jumper at the one minute mark helped STAC open a 74-71 lead, but Nettleton struck again on a bomb with 17 seconds left, which sent the affair to overtime. Olaukani give UDC its biggest lead at 76-74 on a jam just 35 seconds into the extra session but it was again short lived, as Singleton needed just 14 seconds to put his team back on top with a three. Sekou Cisse - the lone senior on the squad, who was celebrated in pregame ceremonies - helped STAC take an 81-76 advantage midway through the overtime period, only to see Jahmir Marable-Williams score the next five to tie the game again with 2:02 left.
Each team followed with an empty trip before Caraballo split a pair from the stripe, giving the Spartans the lead with 39 seconds left and Singleton added two more from the line and a potential game-tying three from Olaukani was off the mark as St. Thomas Aquinas claimed the win.
Five scorers hit for double-figures in the STAC attack, paced by Caraballo (23), Cisse (18), Singleton (17), Roberts (11) and Sudan (10), while Smith chipped in nine. UDC poured in 17 three-pointers on the afternoon on 47% shooting but it still wasn't enough despite Nettleton's game-high 28 points, including a torrid 8-for-12 from downtown. Kirkwood struck for five threes in adding 18 points.
The playoff picture remains somewhat cloudy for the ECC Tournament, but here's where things stand entering the final two games of the regular-season on Sunday on Long Island. Bridgeport has clinched the top seed and the bye to next Saturday's semi-finals at UDC. A Daemen loss with give STAC the #2 slot (and a bye) while dropping the Wildcats to third, however a Daemen win would leave the teams tied in the standings, with the tiebreaker determination to be announced Sunday evening. Whichever team finishes third will host a quarter-final on Wednesday along with Molloy, who has locked up the #4 seed. UDC, Queens, and New York Tech are in contention for the final two berths; a Tech win will put them in the tourney but all tiebreakers will be announced along with the tournament field and game times on Sunday night.