The St. Thomas Aquinas College Men's Basketball team's postseason road to their 4th ECC Championship in the last 5 seasons, began March 7th at the UDC Sports Complex in Washington, D.C.
After posting a regular season record of 23-5 (13-3 ECC), the Spartans were the #2 seed in the ECC tournament and received an automatic bye into the semifinal round, facing off with the #3 seed Daemen College (24-7 overall, 12-4 ECC) to open the postseason. The teams split their scheduled 2019-2020 match ups, with the home teams winning each contest (Dec. 15 at Aquinas Hall - STAC 87/Daemen 80) & (Feb. 14 at Lumsden Gymnasium - Daemen 81/STAC 77).
Before the start of the 2-day tournament in Our Nation's Capital, the East Coast Conference honored its men's basketball athletes with All-Conference honors. Spartans Osbel Caraballo (First Team), Demetre Roberts (First Team) and Sekou Cisse (Second Team) received such distinction the night before the games tipped off.
When the pomp and circumstance was over, it was time to get the championship chase started.
In Saturday's semifinal game, Grant Singleton opened the scoring for STAC with a three-pointer, but Jay Sarkis also struck from deep to cap a 7-0 response to give Daemen an early advantage. With the game tied at 20-20 midway through the first half, Kobe Opoku's layup touched off a 13-2 run as Sekou Cisse nailed a three and Osbel Caraballo followed with a layup to open a 33-22 advantage with 6:22. The teams largely exchanged baskets for the remainder of the half as the Spartans carried a 42-34 lead into intermission.
Andrew Sischo's early layup brought the Wildcats to 44-38 in the opening minutes of the second half but STAC again answered quickly as Demetre Roberts scored six points and Singleton scored five straight in a 19-6 burst in a span of just over six minutes, opening a commanding 63-44 spread with 12:38 left. While Daemen drew the deficit to as little as nine at 84-75 with 2:25 left, they were unable to cast a serious threat as STAC answered with big hoops whenever they were needed.
Caraballo led four Spartans in double-figures with a game-high 29 points, Singleton poured in 20, Roberts added 14, and Sekou Cisse posted 13. ECC Player of the Year Sischo led the Wildcats with 23 points and 17 rebounds, with Jay Sarkis chipping in 13.
The Spartans took the 91-76 victory and advanced to the East Coast Conference Finals to face the top seed University of Bridgeport (24-3). Bridgeport previously swept the regular season series from the Spartans (Jan. 22 at Aquinas Hall - Bridgeport 87/STAC 85) & (Feb. 26 at Harvey Hubbell Gymnasium - Bridgeport 67/STAC 63).
On ECC Final Sunday, Bridgeport grabbed a quick 7-4 lead on a pair of Jayden Itermendi free throws, but Sekou Cisse and Demetre Roberts scored five points each in a 14-3 response from the Spartans, taking an 18-10 lead with 8:38 remaining in the first half. STAC's defense frustrated the high-powered Purple Knights as a late Osbel Caraballo jumper opened a 36-23 advantage at intermission.
After being held to just 27% shooting in the first half (7-26), the Purple Knights came out firing after the break, with D'Vonne Trumbo, Hashem Abbas (twice), and Travis Robinson-Morgan each drilling three-pointers in the first 2:15 as a 14-3 run left a narrow 39-37 margin with 15:55 remaining. Bridgeport continued the momentum with a 9-2 burst to take a 59-55 lead with 5:16 to go.
Sudan, Caraballo, and Cisse answered with buckets in a 6-1 spurt, giving STAC a 61-60 advantage with 3:37 left. Cisse converted one of two from the line to open a 64-61 gap with 2:18 left, but Ryo Kobayashi came off the UB bench to hit a three to deadlock the score at the 2:03 mark. Caraballo proceeded to impose his will, attacking the basket and hitting six free throws in the last two minutes and fittingly ending the game with a thunderous dunk as St. Thomas Aquinas secured the victory, 74-67.
Osbel Caraballo was named the Tournament's Most Outstanding Player with a 25-point, 11-rebound performance on the heels of Saturday's 29 points in the semi-final victory over Daemen. Grant Singleton added 12 points with Demetre Roberts (11), Sekou Cisse (11) and Jamar Sudan (10) adding to the effort. Bakary Camara led four Purple Knights in double-figures with 15.
The St. Thomas Aquinas College Men's Basketball team (25-5) earned the #2 seed in the East Regional of the 2020 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament, and was scheduled take on neighbor and Rockland County rival #7 Dominican College (25-6). Unfortunately, due to the on-going COVID-19 Pandemic, the tournament was canceled, ending the Spartans' season.
STAC finished the 2019-2020 campaign ranked #11 by the National Association of Basketball Coaches and #14 by the Division II College Sports Information Directors of America.
WATCH BELOW: St. Thomas Aquinas College Men's Basketball ECC Tournament Highlight Video