The St. Thomas Aquinas College men's basketball team exploded for a 101-64 non-conference victory over Georgian Court at Aquinas Hall. Five scorers hit double figures for the Spartans, who improved to 8-4 on the season while dropping GCU to 2-10.

Georgian Court jumped out to an early 6-2 lead but the Spartans reeled off a 17-6 run to take the lead at 19-12 after seven minutes of play. The scrappy visitors kept the contest close, drawing to within 33-29 on a pair of Keith Hughes free throws with 4:13 left in the first half.

STAC dropped the hammer from that point, outscoring the Lions in an 18-4 outburst that included a trio of Justin Reyes dunks and the final 11 straight points of the half. That run would extend to 16-0 on a Shaq McFarlan bucket and a Chaz Watler three pointer, opening up a 56-33 chasm from which the Spartans would never look back.

In all, St. Thomas Aquinas carried an impressive 28-6 streak over a seven-minute span extending into the second half. The scoring onslaught - which saw the second-half lead grow to as many as 42 points - represented the second-highest total in Head Coach Tobin Anderson's three-year tenure, topped only in last season's 103-71 drubbing of Dowling on January 31, 2015. The 37 point final margin of victory was STAC's largest dating back through the 2006-07 season.

Reyes once again set the pace with game highs of 21 points and 12 rebounds, with McFarlan (12 points), Adam Koziol (11), Jon Lawton (11) and Jules deCourtenay (10) sharing the scoring load, while Chaz Watler dished out eight assists. Michael Pierre was the Lions' top scorer with 17 in a game that saw St. Thomas Aquinas dominate the glass to a 46-17 count.

The Spartans return to action and East Coast Conference play this coming Thursday, January 7, traveling to face Daemen College in an 8:00 pm start. Their northern NY trip concludes on Saturday at Roberts Wesleyan College starting at 4:00 pm. STAC will travel to Mercy on Tuesday, January 12, before returning to Aquinas Hall for a big showdown with the University of the District of Columbia on Thursday, January 14.

- Steve Balsan, St. Thomas Aquinas Sports Information