Justin Brown had 19, Omar Kellman scored 18 while Dane Dixon and Irin Stark added 15 and 14, respectively, in the St. Thomas Aquinas College men's basketball team's 89-80 loss at Mercy College on Saturday afternoon.

A basket by Kellman and a Dane Dixon dunk four and a half minutes later bookended a 10-0 STAC run that put them ahead 21-15 with 5:47 left in the first half. The Mavericks rallied to tie the score at 25 and the two tem's traded leads before Romaine Wall connected from beyond the three point arc with one second to go in the opening stanza to send Mercy to the locker room with a 32-30 advantage.

STAC trailed by as many as 13 in the second half before rallying to pull to within 59-58 on two free throws from James Ockimey with 7:56 left in the contest. James Mindingall and Colin Senior then converted consecutive three point plays for Mercy to put the Spartans back in a seven point hole only a minute and a half later. Ockimey answered with a three pointer to whittle the Maverick's advantage to 65-61 with 5:28 to go but that was as close as STAC would get in dropping to 7-9 overall and 3-4 in ECC play.

Colin Senior scored a game high 26 to lead four Mavericks on double figures.

The Spartans return home to face the University of Bridgeport on Wednesday, January 25 with the action scheduled to commence at 7:30 pm at Aquinas Hall as the back end of a twin-bill with the women's teams. You can watch all the action and follow along with Live Stats by clicking the appropriate schedule links at game time.