The St. Thomas Aquinas College men's basketball team battled to a 77-73 loss against St. Anselm College at the NCAA Division II East Regional. Chaz Watler led the Spartans with 27 points. The Spartans saw their season - and their 21-game winning streak - come to an end, with STAC posting a 27-5 record. St. Anselm's improved to 23-7 and advances to Tuesday's regional final against the winner of the Stonehill-Southern New Hampshire contest.

Neither team was able to gain separation in a tight first half that saw nine ties and three lead changes. St. Anselm was able to push their lead to as many as six points on three different occasions - the last coming on Harrison Taggert's three to make the score 41-35 with just under two minutes left - but Shaq Mc Farlan hit a late three and Aaron Cust's buzzer-beating layup drew the Spartans to a 41-40 halftime deficit.

Several more lead changes punctuated the second half, which saw STAC take a 66-63 lead on a Jon Lawton hoop with seven minutes left. Mike McCahey proved to be too much for the Spartans, as his trey with 6:14 left drew the game even and Cody Ball's bucket giving the Hawks a lead they would not relinquish.

Still, the Spartans had hope until the dying seconds, in a sequence eerily similary to the one that saw them win Saturday's game on Watler's buzzer-beating bucket. With STAC down five, Watler's layup drew the gap to 74-71 with 1:26 left. After a series of misses, Watler struck again with 38 seconds left to draw the Spartans within one.

Tim Guers hit a pair of free throws with 10 seconds left, and with STAC trailing by three, Watler dribbled through traffic, pulling up just a few feet behind the spot of the previous day's heroics, but his shot rattled out, and a subsequent foul brought the Spartans' inspirational performance to a close.

McCahey was more than a handful for St. A's, hitting five three-pointers as part of his game-high 29 points, leading the Hawks to the comeback win. Lawton had 15 points for STAC, while Shaq McFarlan added 10. Tim Guers contributed 16 for St. Anselm's, as the Spartans won the rebounding battle by a 36-32 margin.

- Steve Balsan, St. Thomas Aquinas Sports Information

- Photo by Dorice Arden