Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. - The St. Thomas Aquinas College Men's Basketball team put a wrap on its 2025-26 regular season schedule Saturday, with a 95-80 road victory over Mercy University at the Neil Judge Athletic Center.

STAC improves to 17-11 overall and 13-3 within the ECC, and now prepares for its thirteenth straight East Coast Conference Men's Basketball Tournament. Mercy closes out the year at 3-23 and 2-14.

Derrick James led the way for the Spartans with a team-high 16 points, as Anthony Daley (15 points), Starrell Hearns (13 points), Jamal Hicks, Jr. (13 points) and Jordan Green (11 points) also scored in double-digits. Meanwhile, Kohen Rowbatham paced the host Mavericks with a game-high 22 points.

STAC shot 48.1 percent (37-77) from the field, while Mercy shot 49.2 percent (31-63) from the floor and 93.3 percent (14-15) from the foul line.

STAC NOTES AND HIGHLIGHTS:

• Ten Spartans logged double-digit minutes in the contest. 
• Derrick James also led the maroon and gold with seven assists on the day.
• James hit 7 of his 10 field goal attempts, with 2-of-2 shots falling from long range. Meanwhile, Anthony Daley went 5-for-13 from the floor and 5-of-11 from downtown.
• Mercy out-rebounded STAC by a narrow 38-37 count, with Jordan Green and Michael Parrotta grabbing a team-high nine six boards apiece for the Spartans.
• St. Thomas Aquinas swiped 14 steals, with the Mavericks turning the ball over on 21 separate occasions.
• The Spartans earned advantages in five team statistical categories over Mercy: Points off Turnovers (27-18), Second Chance Points (27-12), Points in the Paint (44-34), Fastbreak Points (19-15) and Bench Points (48-22).
• The game featured three ties and six lead changes.
• STAC's largest lead of the game came with just under seven minutes to play in Saturday's contest, when the Spartans led by 16 points, 81-65, on a Derrick James three-point jump shot.
• St. Thomas Aquinas led Mercy, 40-35 going into the halftime locker room and shot 45.9 percent (17-37) from the field.
• Derrick James led all Spartans' scorers with nine first half points, while shooting 80.0 percent from the floor (4-for-5) and 100.0 percent from long range (1-of-1).
• STAC's best shooting half came in the second stanza, as the Spartans shot 50.0 percent (20-40) from the field.

MERCY NOTES AND HIGHLIGHTS:

• Seven Mavericks logged double-digit minutes in the contest. 
• Kohen Rowbatham led Mercy with 22 points, while TJ Holloway (20 points) and Ashton Pratt (18 points) also scored in double figures.
• Rowbatham and Holloway also led Mercy with five assists apiece on the afternoon.
• Rowbatham went 10-for-19 from the floor and 2-of-3 free throw attempts. Meanwhile, Holloway went 7-for-13 from the field, 2-of-4 from three and 4-of-4 from the foul line.
• Jordan Trahan grabbed a game-high ten boards for the Mavericks.
• Mercy picked up four steals, with the Spartans turning the ball over on nine separate occasions.
• Mercy's largest lead of the game came with just under 15 and a half minutes to play in the first half, when the Mavericks led by four points, 18-4, on a Ashton Pratt layup.
• Kohen Rowbatham led all scorers with ten first half points for the Mavericks, while shooting 50.0 percent (5-of-10) from the field.

UP NEXT: 

No. 2 St. Thomas Aquinas receives a bye into the semifinal round of the East Coast Conference Men's Basketball Tournament and will next play on Saturday, March 7, against the winner of Wednesday's first round matchup between No. 3 College of Staten Island and No. 6 Roberts Wesleyan University. The Spartans and Dolphins or Redhawks will tip-off at 7:30 p.m. inside of Lumsden Gymnasium on the campus of top-seeded Daemen University in Amherst, New York.