For the second time in four nights, the St. Thomas Aquinas College men's basketball team defeated Nyack College, prevailing 61-42 in the opener of the Dominican College Tournament. Justin Brown led the way with a game-high 18 points while the bench contributed 35 to set the pace. Mike Woods (15 points) and Irin Stark (pictured, right - 13 points) led the bench brigade. The Spartans play the hosts from Orangeburg on Saturday night at 7:30.
This evening's tilt was a rematch of the Spartans' home opener Tuesday night, which resulted in an 82-66 victory in front of the Aquinas Hall faithful. Picking up where they left off, the Spartans took an early 10-5 lead but the offense struggled to get in synch. A 7-0 run gave the Warriors a 12-10 lead midway through the first half, but STAC answered with a vengeance, riding an 11-1 burst to a lead they would not relinquish. After taking a 27-14 lead into halftime, St. Thomas Aquinas cruised, with their margin hitting as wide as 20 and never being less than nine points.
In addition to the stellar bench scoring from Coach Dennis O'Donnell's crew, Sam Wilson also made his presence felt with five steals in a tenacious defensive effort, while Dane Dixon and Omar Kellman pulled down seven boards each to tie Brown for the team lead in that category.
Lafayette Curtis led the pack for Nyack's struggling offense, posting a team-high eight points, with Ryan Woodard leading all rebounders with eight. STAC prevailed despite shooting just 38% from the floor (24-63), as the defense was stingy in holding their foes to just 33% (15-45). The Warriors will take on Molloy in tomorrow night's opening match-up.
STAC will complete their Rockland County Rumble by squaring off with a tough Dominican College squad (3-0 after Friday night's 81-80 OT victory vs. Molloy) in the tournament finale, tomorrow (Saturday) night at 7:30.
As a point of significance, tonight's game was the first game of five straight that will see the Spartans away from their Sparkill digs. After tomorrow's finale with Dominican, their next game has them travel to Pennsylvania to face East Stroudsburg University on Tuesday, November 22; proceed to face legendary Coach Herb Magee's Philadelphia University on Sunday, November 27; and traverse the turnpike south to meet Wilmington University in Delaware on Wednesday, November 30. They return to the Aquinas Hall Edge to host Queens College in their East Coast Conference opener on Wednesday, December 7. Tip-off time for that game is set for 7:30 pm after the women's contest, and both games will be carried live on New Media Television Sports.