The St. Thomas Aquinas College men's basketball team earned an 85-64 victory over NYIT in the East Coast Conference season opener, which was played at Barclay's Center, in Brooklyn. Justin Reyes and Chaz Watler scored 20 each and Reyes added 15 rebounds as the Spartans improved to 5-2 overall and 1-0 in conference play, with New York Institute of Technology dropping to 1-6, 0-1.

Reyes set the tone for the afternoon, opening the scoring with a lay-up in the first 30 seconds, and Watler's three-point play opened a 7-1 gap within two minutes of action. Jeffrey Hayden's bucket brought NYIT to within 11-8 at the 16:17 mark, but that was as close as the Bears would get. Aaron Cust recorded the next four points, as part of a 10-2 run, and STAC carried a 47-35 lead into halftime.

NYIT was able to draw within eight at 53-45 on a Jordan Nanton hoop with 16 minutes left, but Cust would again provide the spark as the Spartans roared to a 9-0 run, with Reyes pouring in the last five points in succession to open a 62-45 chasm as STAC cruised from there.

Jonathan Lawton added 13 points and Jules deCourtenay posted 10 for St. Thomas Aquinas, while Hayden was the bright spot for NYIT with a game-high 21 points. Watler and deCourtenay totaled four steals each as the Spartans forced 21 NYIT turnovers, and deCourtenay added nine caroms as STAC won the rebound battle by a 39-34 count.

The Spartans are now off until Wednesday, December 9, when they start a string of three straight ECC battles at Aquinas Hall as Queens College pays a visit for an 8:00 tip. The game is the back end of a conference twin-bill, with the women's teams starting the action at 6:00 pm.

- Steve Balsan, St. Thomas Aquinas Sports information