The St. Thomas Aquinas College men's basketball team rallied to an 81-76 victory in an East Coast Conference match-up at Roberts Wesleyan College. The nationally-ranked Spartans are now 5-0 on the season and 4-0 in ECC action, with Roberts Wesleyan slipping to 4-4, 2-2.

Playing their second of three consecutive games in as many days after Friday's 97-92 win at Saint Rose, the STAC defense was on fire early, holding the Redhawks to just one field goal in opening a 13-2 lead after over seven minutes of action. An Elijah Bovell jumper made the score 15-4 before the Spartans ran into their own drought, going over three minutes without a point as a 10-0 RWC run closed the gap to one point, though STAC was able to open a 38-34 lead at half.

Both offenses struggled coming out of the locker room, but Grant Singleton's three pointer with 13:30 left opened the lead to 50-41. An Eric Lewis three-pointer helped Roberts start a 7-0 run to draw close at 55-54, but Demetre Roberts and Bovell posted back-to-back buckets to again open some breathing room.

Trailing by nine with three minutes to go, Shane Manning kick-started the Redhawks with a pair from deep, with Ja'kair Sanchez and Isaiah Lewis hitting to close out a 10-0 burst, putting RWC on top for the first time at 72-70 with just 1:26 on the clock. Louis Griffith made sure that lead was short-lived with a trey just 12 seconds later, and after forcing a turnover, Roberts added another from downtown and was fouled, with the four-point play giving St. Thomas Aquinas a decisive 77-72 advantage with 25 seconds left.

Grant Singleton led the STAC attack with game highs of 22 points and 11 rebounds, Osbel Caraballo had 18 and Roberts added 16. Sanchez paced five Redhawks in double-figures with a team high 16.

The Spartans close out their three-games-in-three-days road trip on Sunday, February 14, once again squaring off at Roberts Wesleyan in a 1:00 pm start. They then travel to Mercy on Wednesday, February 17 before returning to Aquinas Hall for a weekend set against Molloy College on February 20 and 21.