Justin Brown's 18 points led four players in double-figures for the St. Thomas Aquinas College men's basketball team, but it was not enough as the Spartans fell, 79-75 to Dominican College at Aquinas Hall. Mike Woods added 15 points for STAC in the hard-fought setback.
Dominican's Leon Porter netted his 1,000th career point on a lay-up with 1:47 left, and he added another with just 31 ticks left to give his Chargers a 76-75 lead they would not relinquish. Porter finished with 10 points. After a game that saw the score tied on 12 occasions and eight lead changes, the loss was the seventh straight for the Spartans, who fell to 2-7 on the season, while Dominican improved to 6-3.
A highly-entertaining first half saw the visitors open a 24-17 lead on the shoulders of Cory Quimby, who posted 11 of his game-high 27 points in the first six minutes of action. That lead their biggest of the game, but the Spartans responded with some sharp shooting from the field to capture a 38-36 halftime edge.
Attack and resistance was the story of the second half, with the hosts extending their biggest advantage to 57-52 on an Irin Stark bucket with 11:57 left, but the Chargers could do no better than even the score until a DaVonne Dunlap lay-up with just 3:23 left gave his team a 68-67 edge. Omar Kellman would reclaim the lead for STAC at 75-74 with a rebound tip-in at the 41 second mark before Porter's heroics would make the difference.
Eight scorers hit double-figures in all - four for each team - with Brown, Woods, James Ockimey (14) and Kellman (11) leading the Spartans. They were offset by Quimby, Khaleev Ginyard (18 points, four three-pointers), Dunlap (15 points) and Porter. Quimby also added 12 boards to lead all rebounders.
Dominican shot an impressive 59% from the field (31-53), while St. Thomas Aquinas recorded a solid 50% (29-58). The visitors enjoyed a 31-23 rebounding advantage. The Spartans were an impressive 87% from the foul line (13-15), with their opponents posting 63% (12-of-19).
The men's squad will now be idle until returning to action on Friday, January 30, when they will close out the year with a double-header at Pace University, with tip-off time at approximately 3:30. They will reengage in conference play on Wednesday, January 4, 2012 at Molloy College, travel to face C.W. Post on Saturday, January 7, and finally return to Aquinas Hall to face Dowling College in a twin-bill with the women's team on Wednesday, January 11.
The January 4 contests at Molloy will be available on video as the first of the East Coast Conference's Featured Game double-headers. Both games will have full production provided by Pack Network, and will be broadcast by STAC's own crew of play-by-play voice Steve Balsan and analyst John Dwinell. The broadcasts can be accessed via the video link on the appropriate schedule page at www.stacathletics.com as well as www.eccsports.org.