The St. Thomas Aquinas College men's basketball team fell into an early hole and couldn't recover, dropping a 78-70 decision to Dominican College at Aquinas Hall. Justin Brown led the way with 21 points for STAC, which has now dropped two straight to fall to 1-6 on the season. Dominican improves to 9-2 with the non-conference win.

From the opening tip, Dominican set the offensive tone as Khaleev Ginuard sparked his crew to an 18-6 lead just five minutes into the affair. The Chargers would extend that margin to as many as 16 points before settling for a 45-32 halftime edge.

While Dominican would only extend that lead to as much as 17 in the second half, the Spartans were unable to put together a run significant enough to draw within less than nine points before a three-pointer as the buzzer accounted for the final margin.

Brown's 21-point effort tied for the game high with Dominican's Cory Quimby, who also led the way in rebounds with 12. Eddie Johnson (13 points) and TJ Jones (12) contributed to the Spartans offense while Dominican received double-figure scoring from Ginyard (12), Jonathan Brown (11), and Leon Porter (10).

The Spartans will close out the pre-Christmas portion of their schedule on Wednesday, December 19, with a trip to Nyack College for a 6:00 pm start. They will return to action with a trip to face Virginia State and Virginia Union on December 29 and 30 respectively, to close out the calendar year before hosting Roberts Wesleyan in an East Coast Conference tilt on January 5, 2013.