On the heels of clinching their fifth East Coast Conference Tournament title in the last six seasons, the St. Thomas Aquinas College Men's Basketball team has been ranked #11 by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and #5 by the Division II Sports Information Directors of America (D2SIDA), in the final polls released on Tuesday and before the NCAA Division II Tournament gets underway.
Last week's 2-0 postseason homestand, which saw the Spartans post victories over both Molloy College in the Semifinals, 110-75 and Daemen College in the Final, 83-67, enroute to yet another ECC Championship Trophy, has STAC sitting with a 13-1 overall record, and a 9-1 ECC mark entering the NCAA East Regional.
The Spartans are currently being led by Grant Singleton (Junior/Guard/Sumter, S.C.) - averaging 17.3 points, 4.4 rebounds & 2.9 assists per game, Osbel Caraballo (Junior/Forward/Bolivar, Venezuela) - averaging 15.8 points, 7.5 rebounds & 2.1 assists per game and Demetre Roberts (Junior/Guard/Mount Vernon, N.Y.) - averaging 14.9 points, 3.4 rebounds & 4.5 assists per game
The team's offense currently averages 90.5 points scored per game, while their defense surrenders an average of only 75.1 points per game.
STAC (13-1) secured the #1 seed in the upcoming NCAA Division II East Region Tournament, which will begin on Saturday, March 13 in Albany, NY. By virtue of being ranked as a the top seed, the Spartans (along with #2 seed Daemen) will have a bye in the quarterfinal and will automatically advance to the semifinal round, which takes place on Sunday, March 14. St. Thomas Aquinas face the winner of #4 Dominican College vs. #5 Caldwell University at 6pm on Sunday evening.