The St. Thomas Aquinas College men's basketball team came up short in an 85-76 setback against Stonehill College at Aquinas Hall. Aaron Cust scored a game-high 17 points for the Spartans, who dropped to 6-6 overall while Stonehill improved to 7-4 on the season.

If there was any rust from the weeklong holiday break, neither team showed it as the offsense was cranked up from the outset. Stonehill carried the lead throughout, but James Mitchell hit a trey that made the score 16-15 with less than six minutes played.

Torrid perimeter shooting helped the visitors expand their lead to 35-23, but the Spartans clawed back to cut the gap to 47-40 at halftime.

Daniel Brix would hit a three early in the second for the Skyhawks to make the score 55-44, but a pair from downtown by Marcus Henderson brought STAC to 62-58 with 12 minutes left. That would be as close as the Spartans would get, however.

A layup by Jack Cole would put Stonehill back in charge at 74-62 with seven to play, but a Jules de Courtenay hoop with 3:30 left would keep it close at 78-73. After a Brix turnover, STAC would come up empty on three tries on their next possession, giving the Skyhawks all they would need to hold on for victory.

Joining Cust in double-figures for the Spartans were Shaquille McFarlan (14), Henderson (13) and Justin Reyes (11). Five scorers hit doubles for Stonehill, led by Brix and Pierce Cumpstone with 16 each. The Skyhawks shot an incredible 61% from behind the arc (11-18), though the Spartans stayed in the contest by taking care of the ball, yielding just 11 turnovers.

The Spartans hit the road for a contest at Georgian Court on Monday, January 5, before returning to Aquinas Hall to face NYIT in an East Coast Conference tilt on Wednesday, January 7.