The St. Thomas Aquinas College men's basketball team overcame a halftime deficit to secure a 79-75 East Coast Conference victory at Mercy College. Justin Brown poured in a game-high 27 points as the Spartans have now won two of their last three games to improve to 3-10 overall and 3-2 in the ECC while Mercy falls to 1-12, 0-5.

Brown got his team off to a good start, with a lay-up that capped a 14-4 run to put the visitors ahead, 14-8. While they would match that margin twice, it would prove to be STAC's largest edge of the first half as Mercy held tough.

Chaz Morrish would key the Mavericks on a 20-10 spurt to put the hosts up by four, and they would eventually end the first half with a 44-40 advantage. Mercy would continue that momentum after the break, with Joseph Pope's bucket staking his team to it's largest lead of the afternoon at 59-52 with 12:42 remaining.

Over the next seven minutes, STAC would roar back, erasing the deficit with a 17-3 outburst to give the Spartans a 69-62 edge with under six minutes remaining. The run was keyed by six points each from Brown and TJ Jones, which Jones' coming via a pair of three-pointers.

Still, the feisty Mavericks would have a chance to tie in the final minute, but Jerrell Lawrence converted only one of two free throws, leaving his team with a 74-73 deficit. Brown and Omar Kellman would combine to make the next four foul shots, securing the win for the Spartans.

Kellman posted 16 points and a game-high 14 rebounds for STAC, with Sean James coming off the bench to post 15. Pope led the Mavs with 22 points with teammate Kirk Bailey chipping in 13. The Spartans continued their torrid foul shooting of late, hitting 24-of-32 (75%) from the line.

The Spartans return to action this Wednesday, January 16, when they host NYIT in a 7:30 pm start at Aquinas Hall. The game is the back end of a conference twin-bill starting with women's action at 5:30. If you can't make it to the game in person, be sure to watch our live broadcast feed and follow along with LiveStats.