Rochester, N.Y. (February 21, 2015) – The men's Basketball team dropped to St Thomas Aquinas this afternoon 71-75 in ECC action.

St Thomas Aquinas now leads the ECC with a record of 15-3 and 18-10 overall. The Spartans are now 8-2 in their last ten games beating Daemen last evening.

Roberts Wesleyan now has a record of 10-13 and 6-11 in the ECC, going into their senior and final home game this Tuesday against Daemen College. Action starts at 8pm.

A Close Start
At the beginning of the match up the Redhawks kept St Thomas Aquinas in check. While the Spartans got on the board first with a layup by Justin Reyes, Roberts Wesleyan tied the score seconds later with a layup by Isaac Medeiros. The senior had a total of 12 points for the match 10 of which coming in the first half. Junior, Marcus Gooding, led the Redhawks with 18 points.

The Redhawks and the Spartans continued to battle, with Roberts Wesleyan tying the game three times and the lead changing a total of four times. Even when the Spartans managed to take the lead the Redhawks never let the lead go beyond four points for the majority of the half.   

St Thomas Aquinas Pulls Away
In the final minutes of the first half, St Thomas Aquinas went on a 9-2 run to end the half up 47-35. Chaz Watler, a sophomore guard for the Spartans, had a game high of 21 points and was integral in their win. The Spartans had several other strong shooters to help them take the lead. Marcus Henderson added 16 points and Justin Reyes ended with 14 points six rebounds and four assists.
Just minutes into the first half, the Spartan's saw their largest lead of 17.

Roberts Wesleyan Comes Back
The Redhawks continued to work hard in the second half, chipping away at the 17 point lead. With just nine minutes to go Jamaal Carter ties up the game for the first time in the second half with a shot from long range. Carter ended the match with 12 points scoring the majority of them in the second half.

Less than a minute later with 8:15 to go Roberts Wesleyan took the lead with a layup by Tyrel Dixon. The layup gave Dixon his 1,000 career point.  Dixon ended the game with 13 points, he also added four rebounds and two assists.

Defensively Malik Dare came off the bench to lead the Redhawks in rebounds, totaling eight for the match.
The Redhawks saw their largest lead of three points with just seven minutes to go with  a jumper by Jamaal Carter.

Tight Final Minutes
Shortly after the Redhawks took the lead, St Thomas answered sinking three shots from long range in a row to go up by six with under five minutes to go.  The Redhawks were able to tie and then lead 68-67 in the final minutes. St Thomas Aquinas quickly answered, but a layup by Gooding put the Redhawks  up 71-70 with a minute left in the game. 

Watler put the Spartans up by one (72-71). With 50 seconds left the Redhawks have possession and are in position to take the lead. A devastating foul by Roberts Wesleyan Sends Watler to the line, who makes both free throws and puts the Spartans up by three. The Redhawks had possession with 13 seconds to go but a missed three pointer and another foul put Roberts Wesleyan back by four to end the game.