Staten Island, N.Y. - The St. Thomas Aquinas College Men's Basketball team clinched its second straight ECC Regular Season title on Saturday afternoon, with a 94-74 triumph over the College of Staten Island at the Sports & Recreation Center.
The regular season crown is the program's fifth since the 2014-15 season (2015, 2016, 2017, 2021, 2022), and now gives the Spartans the honor of hosting the upcoming East Coast Conference Men's Basketball Tournament semifinals and final, next Saturday and Sunday (March 5 & 6) at Aquinas Hall.
STAC wraps up the 2021-22 Regular Season on a 12-game win streak, with a 24-4 overall record and a 17-1 mark in the league, while Staten Island drops to 7-19 and 6-12.
Demetre Roberts paced the Spartan offense with 23 points, while Grant Singleton (19 points), Sean Moore (17 points) and Luis Risquez (10 points) also scored in double figures. Bryce Waterman (26 points) and Austin Mick (23 points) led the Dolphins in scoring.
STAC shot 45.3 percent from the field (34-75) and 45.2 percent from beyond the arc (14-31), while CSI shot 39.4 percent (26-66) from the floor and 41.2 percent (14-34) from three-point.
STAC NOTES AND HIGHLIGHTS:
- Eight players recorded double-digit minutes in the contest.
- DeVante Jamison led the Spartans with seven assists on the afternoon.
- Grant Singleton made 7 of his 12 field goal attempts, while Sean Moore went 6-for-12 from the floor.
- STAC out rebounded Staten Island 43-38 in 40 minutes of action, with Sean Moore grabbing eight boards for the Spartans.
- St. Thomas Aquinas picked up eight steals in the contest, with the Dolphins turning the ball over on 10 separate occasions.
- The Spartans earned advantages in four team statistical categories over Staten Island: Points off of Turnovers (13-4), Second Chance Points (11-7), Points in the Paint (34-22) and Bench Points (16-9).
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- CSI opened the contest with an early 6-4 advantage, before the Spartans went on a 9-3 run to take a 13-9 lead at the first media timeout.
- The teams would battle for large stretches of the half, trading baskets with STAC going up by as much as seven points, before Staten Island cut the deficit back to four with just under seven and a half minutes left to play before the break.
- St. Thomas Aquinas extended its lead to 14 late in the first half, and took an 11-point margin (45-34) into the locker room at the end of 20 minutes of action on Staten Island.
- Sean Moore recorded 13 first half points for STAC, while Bryce Waterman led all scorers with 18 points for CSI.
- Following the break, the Spartans continued to maintain a double-digit advantage on the scoreboard through the first five minutes of play in the second stanza, with the score being 56-46 at the under-16 media timeout.
- Staten Island would try to climb back into the game, cutting the game to both nine and eight point margins on multiple occasions in the frame, but each time the deficit would go to single digits, STAC had an answer and reclaimed comfortable double-digit leads.
- The Spartans would pick up its largest advantage of the game late (20) at 94-74, which would be the final outcome when the clock reached triple zeros.
UP NEXT:
St. Thomas Aquinas College has earned a bye into the semifinal round of the ECC Men's Basketball Tournament, which will be held at Aquinas Hall Gym, next Saturday, March 5. The top-seeded Spartans will tip-off at noon, with #2 seed Daemen College following at 3:30pm. Opponents for both STAC and Daemen will be determined on Wednesday evening, March 2 via the tournament's first round games.
ECC MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
First Round - Wednesday, March 2 (at Higher Seeds)
#3 Molloy College (11-16) vs. #6 University of the District of Columbia (9-19)
#4 Queens College (11-11) vs. #5 Roberts Wesleyan College (11-12)
Semifinal Round - Saturday, March 5 (at St. Thomas Aquinas College)
#1 St. Thomas Aquinas College (24-4) vs. Winner of Queens/Roberts Wesleyan- 12:00pm
#2 Daemen College (19-8) vs. Winner of Molloy/District of Columbia - 3:30pm
Final Round - Sunday, March 6 (at St. Thomas Aquinas College)
TBA vs. TBA - 2:30pm
*TICKETS FOR ALL ECC MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT GAMES WILL GO ON SALE BEGINNING NEXT WEEK*