The St. Thomas Aquinas College men's basketball team earned a 77-70 victory over Queens College in a game with playoff implications in the East Coast Conference. Marcus Henderson netted 19 as STAC earned the series sweep, improving to 11-10 overall and 7-8 in ECC action. Queens dropped to 5-17, 5-11.

With the victory, STAC moved back into a tie for the fifth of six berths to the ECC's post-season playoff tournament. Any combination of two Spartan wins and two Queens losses would put STAC into the post-season for the first time since the 2008-09 campaign.

Although Queens posted the first four points of the game, the first half turned into an even struggle, seeing the score tied at 19-19 with eight minutes left in the session. The Knights gained the momentum at that point, running off the next six points and opening their gap to as much as 34-25, their biggest of the game, with just 46 seconds left in the half.

That would turn out to be a lot of time, however, as Henderson posted seven straight points for STAC, and combined with Chaz Watler's three-point-play with just a second remaining, the Spartans escaped the first 20 minutes trailing by just a pair at 36-34.

Continuing their pattern as a strong second half team, STAC posted the first seven points after the break, extending their run to 16-2 and grabbing a 41-36 edge. While the Knights clawed back to within 41-40, trey's by Eli Maravich, Jon McNair and Aaron Cust would highlight an 11-2 STAC run, putting the visitors up 52-42 midway through the half.

STAC would expand that gap to as many as 14 points, with Queens drawing no closer than six thereafter, as the Spartans would bring home one of their biggest victories of the season.

In addition to Henderson, STAC received contributions from Watler (16 points), Cust (12) and Omar Kellman (10 points, game-high 13 rebounds). Queens was led by Amir Tarif's game-high 22 points, with teammate Pat Parker chipping in 16.

The Spartans have their fate in their own hands, traveling to Molloy College this Saturday, February 15 for a 2:30 start before playing three of their final four regular-season games in the friendly confines of Aquinas Hall. On Wednesday, February 19, NYIT pays a call for a 7:30 start, with that game serving as the back end of a double-header with the women's teams.