The St. Thomas Aquinas College men's basketball team will make its first appearance in the East Coast Conference Men's Basketball Tournament Final, traveling to take on #2 University of Bridgeport on Sunday, March 9 at 1:00 pm at Harvey Hubbell Gymnasium. Here's your guide to everything you need to know entering Sunday's tilt.
STAC makes its first appearance ever in the ECC Men's Basketball Tournament finals, with Bridgeport appearing for the sixth straight year and 7th overall. The Purple Knights are the defending league champs, having defeated Dowling last season, and are in search of their third crown, with the previous one coming in 2010.
For Video Click Here. For Live Stats Click Here.
The Season - St. Thomas Aquinas College now stands with a 15-13 record overall after finishing 9-11 in East Coast Conference play, good enough to take the #5 seed. The Spartans won five straight games early in the season and three in a row in January. Their longest losing streak was three games. STAC has now won two straight after alternating wins and losses over their previous eight games. (see STAC Stats Here)
Bridgeport enters the final with a 17-10 record after going 14-6 in ECC play to earn the #2 seed. They head to the title clash on a roll, having won nine of their last 10 games, including a seven-game winning streak that spanned nearly the entire month of February. Prior to that, they had not won more than two straight and their longest losing streak was three games early in the campaign. (see Bridgeport Stats Here)
The Road to the Finals - Six of the nine eligible conference schools qualified for the post-season tournament. STAC is making its first ever appearance in the finals, while Bridgeport will vie for the conference crown for the sixth straight season.
#5 seed St. Thomas Aquinas eliminated #4 LIU-Post, 64-62, Wednesday night, with Eli Maravich leading the Spartans with a season-high 17 point performance. STAC remained upset-minded on Friday, topping #1 seed Dowling College in an 84-81 overtime thriller, thanks to Marcus Henderson's dramatic three pointer. Omar Kellman led all scorers with 21 points, with Henderson adding 20.
With their strong regular season finish, Bridgeport earned the #2 seed and a first-round bye through Wednesday's quarter-finals. They ousted #3 seed Molloy on Friday night, by a 79-75 count. Sean Berry led the way with 22 points and point guard JoJo Swift dished out 10 assists as the Purple Knights built a 19-point second half lead only to see Molloy's frantic late rally come up short.
(For Full ECC Tournament Info, Click Here)
The Match-Up - A conference rookie takes on an ECC veteran in the penultamate bench match-up. In his first year at STAC, and after losing most of the top scorers from a year ago, Tobin Anderson has taken a squad predicted to finish 10th in the ECC pre-season poll to its first semi-final since 2008, and it's first title game ever. Bridgeport's Mike Ruane has already written his place in the ECC history books, with a pair of conference championships, Coach-of-the-Year and various sportsmanship honors in addition to his 268-150 overall record in his 14 seasons.
St. Thomas Aquinas is led by freshman Chaz Watler (10.5 ppg post-season, 13.6 overall), the ECC's Rookie-of-the-Year; and Second Team All-Conference selection senior Omar Kellman (17.5 ppg post-season, 982 career points). Firey junior point guard Marcus Henderson (20 points, game-winning basket vs Dowling), an Honorable Mention All-ECC selection, has given a spark to the Spartans' offense, which can feature a variety of weapons on any given night, including junior Alushula Odongo (27 points at Molloy, 2/15/14), freshman Aaron Cust (26 points vs Daemen, 1/4/14; ECC Rookie-of-the-Week), and graduate student Eli Maravich (season-high 17 points in Wednesday's win at Post).
Bridgeport features an up-tempo attack as always, as evidenced by their 81.6 points per game average. First Team All-Conference guard JoJo Swift (16.2 ppg, 5.1 apg) sets the pace for a balanced offense that includes All-Conference Honorable Mention Sean Berry (13.9 ppg, 8.9 rpg), Antoine Brown (11.3 ppg) and Ivan Simic (10.4 ppg). Those four players have started virtually every Purple Knights' game this season.
(For Full ECC Post-Season Awards, Click Here)
Previous Meetings - December 18, 2012 - @ Bridgeport 83, STAC 60 (box score, recap)
After a tightly-contested start, the home team pulled away in the latter stages of the first half, eventually opening a 21-point edge. STAC rallied to within 10 before Bridgeport pulled away, tagging the Spartans with their second-largest margin of defeat on the season. Ivan Simic led UB with 16 points with Omar Kellman posting 13 for St. Thomas Aquinas.
February 6, 2014 - Bridgeport 81, @ STAC 77 (box score, recap)
Nearly two months later, the second meeting of the two teams took a very different tone, with STAC playing some of its best basketball of the season in grabbing a 12-point first half lead. Bridgeport would show its poise, however, chipping away before grabbing its first lead of the game with just over two minutes left in regulation and squeezing out a road win. JoJo Swift posted a game-high 23 points for the Purple Knights, while Chaz Watler provided STAC with 16 while Omar Kellman added 14 and a game-high 14 rebounds.
What's Next? - The winner of Sunday's game is the 2013-14 East Coast Conference Men's Basketball champion, and will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament, which begins next weekend. Neither team is in position to earn an at-large bid to the tourney, thus Sunday's game will likely be the season finale for the loser.