The St. Thomas Aquinas College Men's Basketball team has been ranked #1 in the NCAA Division II East Region, and #15 & #8 nationally by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and D2SIDA, respectively, in the latest polls released on both Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons.
Last week's 2-1 homestand to close out the regular season has STAC sitting with an 11-1 overall record, and an 9-1 ECC mark entering the East Coast Conference tournament. St. Thomas Aquinas defeated American International, 90-84 and split a pair of contests with Daemen, falling in the opener 84-81 in overtime, before taking the finale over the Wildcats, 71-68.
The Spartans are currently being led by Grant Singleton (Junior/Guard/Sumter, S.C.) - averaging 17.1 points, 4.4 rebounds & 2.7 assists per game, Osbel Caraballo (Junior/Forward/Bolivar, Venezuela) - averaging 16.0 points, 7.5 rebounds & 2.3 assists per game and Demetre Roberts (Junior/Guard/Mount Vernon, N.Y.) - averaging 14.5 points, 3.6 rebounds & 4.3 assists per game
The team's offense currently averages 89.5 points scored per game, while their defense surrenders an average of only 75.8 points per game.
The seedings are now set for this week's five-team East Coast Conference Men's Basketball Tournament field, with STAC and Daemen at #s 1 and 2 respectively, followed by Roberts Wesleyan, Molloy and Mercy. The top seeded Spartans will take on the #4 seed Molloy College Lions at Aquinas Hall on Friday, March 5 at 7:00 pm. Also on Friday, Daemen will host Roberts in the other semi-final with winners advancing to the finals on Sunday afternoon, March 7. Should the Spartans win Friday's semi, they will host the Championship Game on Sunday at 1pm.
Full NCAA Division II Regional Poll 3/3/21