The St. Thomas Aquinas College men's basketball team ran to an 82-66 victory over the University of New Haven at the Spartans Tip-off Classic at Aquinas Hall. The Spartans, ranked #8 in this week's National Association of Basketball Coaches national poll, improved to 2-0 on the season, with New Haven falling to 1-1 with the setback.

After recording a 96-88 shootout win over St. Michael's on Friday, the Spartans' offense was in high gear early as STAC utilized a 26-8 first half run to open a 34-14 lead after 12 minutes of action and held a 46-26 edge at halftime. Adam Koziol hit a trio of three pointers in that first half outburst while Reyes at one point scored nine consecutive STAC points.

Rebounding from that tough first half, the Chargers scored seven of the first nine points after the break, though the Spartans would strike back with a 10-0 outburst to open a 61-36 chasm. New Haven rallied to within 67-57 on a Kessley Felizor dunk with 5:58 left, but the Spartans were never threatened in the second half as Justin Reyes finished with game highs of 19 points and 13 rebounds. Danny Upchurch paced the Chargers with 17 points and nine assists.

Jonathan Lawton and Shaq McFarlan aided STAC's depth with 11 points each with Jules deCourtenay adding 10. Michael Bourke provided support for UNH with 15 points off the bench, and teammate Elijah Bailey chipping in 11.

The Spartans return to action on Wednesday, November 16, traveling to face Holy Family University. They will be back at Aquinas Hall to play the first of three straight at home when Dominican College visits on Tuesday, November 22.