The St. Thomas Aquinas College men's basketball team rallied from a 16-point second half deficit to overcome Stonehill College, 78-67 in overtime at Aquinas Hall. Chaz Watler netted a career-high 21 points and Marcus Henderson added 17 in the victory as the Spartans won their second-straight thriller to improve to 2-1 on the season. Stonehill suffered its first loss, also standing at 2-1.
Coming off Tuesday night's victory - which saw them overtake Wilmington on a Henderson free-throw with 3.0 seconds to go, the Spartans got off to a slow start, with the Skyhawks quickly running up an 8-0 advantage in under two minutes of play. That lead would extend to 10 points before Watler capped an 8-0 STAC run with a three-point play to draw to within 16-14.
Stonehill would retain their lead with the score remaining tight at 29-27 with under three minutes remaining in the half before the visitors would threaten to blow the contest open, embarking on a 12-0 run to stake the Skyhawks to a 41-27 lead at the break.
That margin would increase to 43-27 on a Jack Cole lay-up in the first minute of the second stanza, but a more disciplined Spartans attack in the second half would methodically chip away at the deficit. Watler and Omar Kellman would combine to score the next nine STAC points, trimming the gap to 45-36 just three minutes later.
Reminiscent of Tuesday night's comeback win, the teams would then alternate runs, with Stonehill increasing their lead to as many as 13 points, only to see the Spartans draw as close as four. With time winding down, the Skyhawks held a 56-50 edge with under four minutes left, setting the stage once again for the home team's late game-heroics and a wild finish to regulation.
Eli Maravich canned a three-pointer with 3:20 left, and Jonathan McNair would add a bucket one tick after the two minute mark to draw STAC to within 56-55, their closest margin since the first 42 seconds of play.
With 46 seconds left, Stonehill's Carter Smith hit one of two foul shots to put the visitors up by a pair. Marcus Henderson would once again rise to the occasion, draining a straighaway three-pointer to give the Spartans their first lead at 58-57 with 34 seconds left. After a Stonehill miss, Watler calmly sank two free-throws with :05 on the clock to put his team ahead by three at 60-57.
STAC quickly fouled Smith to prevent a three-point attemt, sending the sophomore back to the line for two shots with four seconds left. Smith hit the first but missed the second, with the ensuing rebound battle falling into the hands of Skyhawk Pierce Cumpstone, who hit a game-tying lay-up with 1.1 second on the clock, sending the game into extra time.
Far from being daunted by squandering the late advantage, the Spartans took charge in the extra time, with Henderson draining a pair of treys in the first 90 seconds to set the tempo. That keyed an 11-2 STAC run to start the overtime, and the Spartans would never look back.
Kellman added 16 points and a team-high eight rebounds, with McNair chipping in 10 points for the Spartans. Cumpstone and Cole paced Stonehill with 14 points each, and Smith added 12, with the visitors holding a narrow 44-42 rebounding edge.
Incredibly, in the second halves of their two straight wins, the Spartans have not held a lead before the last minute, while being ahead on the scoreboard for a combined 33 seconds.
The Spartans return to action, playing the fourth of their season-opening five-game homestand, when the University of District of Columbia visits Aquinas Hall on Saturday, November 23. The East Coast Conference opener is part of a double-header, with women's action starting things off at 1:00 pm, followed by the men's contest at 3:00. Video and LiveStats will be availabe for these, as well as all Spartans home basketball contests.