The St. Thomas Aquinas College men's basketball team led from wire-to-wire in defeating Mercy College, 67-54, in an East Coast Conference tilt at Aquinas Hall. Marcus Henderson led all scorers with 24 points, including six three-pointers as the Spartans improved to 9-8 overall, 5-6 in the ECC. Mercy dropped to 1-17, 1-11 with the loss.

After dropping six of their previous seven games, the Spartans were riding high off Saturday's victory at Roberts Wesleyan and carried that momentum into the early minutes of play. Henderson's first trey of the night capped an explosive start as the hosts bolted to a 17-3 lead after just over five minutes of play.

Not to be counted out so quickly, the Mavericks clamped down on defense and held STAC scoreless for nearly seven minutes, with their 11-0 run bringing them to within 17-14. The battle was engaged from there, with the Spartans expanding their lead to as many as seven points, only to see Mercy whittle their deficit to a skinny 31-30 at halftime.

History repeated itself after the break, with St. Thomas Aquinas nearly equaling their opening outburst as a 16-2 run gave them their biggest lead to that point at 47-32. This time, the Mavs would not respond before the hosts extended that gap to a seemingly-comfortable 57-37 with just under nine minutes to play.

Once again, the visitors would show their resilience, reeling off nine straight points to keep the game alive with still nearly seven minutes to play. The Spartans would again weather the charge, as Mercy would draw no closer than nine points the rest of the way.

Chaz Watler added 14 points and nine rebounds for the Spartans, with Omar Kellman grabbing a game-high 10 boards to go with his nine points. Three scorers hit double-figures in the balanced Mercy attack, as STAC held a dominant 44-31 edge in rebounding.

The Spartans will travel to face the University of the District of Columbia on Saturday, February 1 in a 4:00 pm start before returning for a pair of games at Aquinas Hall. They will take on Molloy College starting at 8:00 pm on Monday, Feburary 3, before hosting the University of Bridgeport on Wednesday, February 5 in a 7:30 tip. All games are ECC contests, and all follow women's games between the same schools.