The St. Thomas Aquinas College men's basketball team takes on top seed and host St. Anselm College in the East Regional Finals of the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium in Manchester, NH.
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Click Here for East Region Tournament Central
Click Here to View Postgame Press Conference for 61-59 Win over LeMoyne
Click Here to View Postgame Press Conference for 86-83 Win over Dominican
Click Here for Link to NCAA Division II Tournamet Bracket
Tonight’s Match-Up – While these teams have not met in the past two regular seasons, they are no strangers to one-another as this is their third NCAA Tournament meeting in the past four seasons (see details below). #6 seed St. Thomas Aquinas advanced to tonight’s game with wins over #3 LeMoyne (61-59) and #7 Dominican (86-83, ot). In STAC’s four March games to date, the margin of victory in each has been three points or less, with two decided in overtime. St. Anselm topped Molloy (81-71) and New Haven (70-69).
STAC vs. St. A; the Rubber Match – This is the third East Regional meeting between these two teams, with each taking a victory. They also met once in the regular season, with the Hawks claiming victory at Aquinas Hall in the ’16-17 season.
March 13, 2016 - #2 St. Anselm 77, STAC 73 (at Holy Family U, Philadelphia, PA) – The Spartans advanced to the East semis with a thrilling Chaz Watler buzzer-beater against Southern Connecticut, but were giving little chance against the Hawks without star forward Justin Reyes. Still, the Spartans stayed close throughout and had a chance to tie the game in the waning seconds, but Watler’s three was off the mark. Watler led the Spartans with 27, but Mike McCahey poured in 29 to lift the Hawks to the final, where they suffered a tough overtime loss to Stonehill.
March 11, 2017 - #5 STAC 91, #4 St. Anselm 72 – (at LeMoyne College, Syracuse, NY) – The Spartans didn’t have to wait long to exact revenge, drawing a quarter-final match with St. Anselm just one year later. Reyes, unavailable for the previous meeting, was a force of nature with a game-high 32 points and 15 rebounds as STAC bolted to a 19-point first half lead and never looked back as Cody Ball paced the Hawks with 17. The Spartans went on to defeat #1 Merrimack and #3 Saint Rose to earn their first regional title and a trip to the Elite Eight.
Spartans in the Post-Season – The Spartans advanced to the ECC Finals in five of the past six seasons, winning the first three Tournament Championships in the program’s history. They are in their fourth straight NCAA Tourney, having won the Regional Championship in 2017. In the Division II era, STAC is 15-5 in playoff competition (all in the six years under Anderson), with a 9-3 mark in ECC Tournament action, 6-2 in NCAA East Regional play, and 0-1 at the Elite Eight. With the win over Dominican, STAC is 1-1 vs. CACC foes. With Saturday’s win over LeMoyne, the Spartans are now 5-1 vs. NE-10 squads at the NCAAs.
Seedings? What Seedings? – In their eight previous NCAA Tournament East Region games over the past four seasons, the Spartans have been the lower seed entering five of them. STAC’s record in those contests stands at 4-1.
Calm Under Pressure – The Spartans have developed a well-earned reputation for bringing games down to the wire before pulling out victories, and the start of this season was no exception. During their 10-1 burst to start the season, STAC’s average margin of victory was 5.7 points per game in the 10 wins, with six of those decided by six points or less. Their one loss, incidentally, was a one-point setback at home against Bloomfield. Including their wins over LeMoyne and Dominican, the Spartans now stand at 11-5 this season in games decided by six points or less.
Coach Tobin Anderson - Anderson is in his sixth season at STAC, has twice been named the ECC Coach of the Year, and the Spartans have a 142-49 record (.743 win percentage) to date in his tenure. He is also 15-6 in post-season play while at STAC, including NCAA appearances in each of the past three seasons and national ranking each of the past two. His overall record stands at 327-178, as he captured his 300th victory over UDC in 2017-18.
Saturday, March 16 - Quarterfinals
Game 1: #6 Saint Thomas Aquinas 61, #3 Le Moyne 59
Game 2: #7 Dominican 64, #2 Merrimack 50
Game 3: #1 Saint Anselm 81, #8 Molloy 71
Game 4: #4 New Haven 72, #5 Daemen 67
Sunday, March 17 - Semifinals
Game 5: St. Thomas Aquinas 86, Dominican 83 (OT)
Game 6: St. Anselm 70, New Haven 69
Tuesday, March 19 - Championship
Game 7: St. Thomas Aquinas vs. St. Anselm - 7 p.m. (LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS)