The St. Thomas Aquinas College men's basketball team came away with a 63-58 East Coast Conference victory at Dowling College on Saturday. Chaz Watler and Justin Reyes tied for game high with 15 points each in lifting STAC to 3-5 overall and 1-1 in the ECC, whiile dropping Dowling to 3-6, 2-1.

In a rematch of last year's ECC Tournament semi-final - won by St. Thomas Aquinas in overtime - the contest was predictably close throughout. Watler's jumper gave his Spartans an early 15-9 lead, but Darian Davis would convert minutes later for the Golden Lions to deadlock the game at 17-17.

Dowling grabbed its first lead of the game with 7:27 to play in the half on a Ryan Creighton layup to make the score 21-20, but the defenses continued to play tight as Reyes' late jumper sent STAC to halftime with a narrow 33-30 advantage.

Neither team grabbed an edge in excess of three points in the early stages of the second half until DC established the first real run of the game, a 9-1 burst that turned a three-point deficit into a 45-40 lead with 12 minutes to play. STAC would answer quickly with an 8-0 run of its own, and again the battle was engaged.

Another Watler hoop with 1:48 to play staked the Spartans to a 61-56 lead but the hosts were not yet done. Ryan Hickey sank a pair of foul shots to cut the margin to three, and a pair of STAC turnovers would keep Dowling alive until the final seconds. Tristan Brown's three point try to tie the score with just 15 ticks left was off the mark, helping the visiting squad secure its first conference win of the season.

Reyes was a force on the boards as well with a team-high 11 caroms, while Brown led three Dowling players in double-figures with 11 points.

The Spartans' next two games are ECC contests on the road, traveling to meet Queens College on Wednesday, December 17, before heading to Molloy on Saturday, December 20.