St. Thomas Aquinas College Men's Basketball player James Patterson was named the East Coast Conference Player of the Week for a third straight week and eighth time this season on Monday, following the Spartans sweep of conference road matchups against Molloy University (99-74) and Queens College (89-76) last week.
Patterson (Richmond, Va.) averaged 24.5 points per game with 7.0 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game over two contests last week for STAC, now on a six-game winning streak. The sophomore guard/forward tallied 28 points, grabbed five rebounds, dished out an assist, and forced two steals in 18 minutes against the Lions before recording 21 points, nine rebounds and two steals in 31 minutes versus the Knights. Patterson also shot 54.0 percent (20-of-37) from the field and 87.5 percent (7-of-8) from the foul line in a 2-0 week for the Spartans, who sit atop the conference standings with a 9-1 ECC record. He leads the conference and ranks fourth nationally in scoring with 23.8 points per game.
St. Thomas Aquinas (17-3 overall, 9-1 ECC) heads to Connecticut for a Wednesday night (February 7) non-conference meeting with the University of Bridgeport. The Spartans and Purple Knights will do battle at Harvey Hubbell Gymnasium beginning at 7:00 p.m.