SPARKILL, N.Y. (Mar. 1, 2025) – Despite five Mavericks scoring in double figures, the Mercy University men's basketball team ended their 2024-25 season with a 102-75 loss at regionally-ranked ECC foe St. Thomas Aquinas College on Saturday afternoon at Aquinas Hall Gym.
The Mavericks (7-18, 6-10 ECC) end their season with three straight losses and just miss out on qualifying for the ECC Championship due to a tiebreaker. Mercy finishes with their most wins in a season since the 2018-19 season and their most ECC wins since the 2021-22 season. The Mavericks have dropped 25 straight meetings to the Spartans (22-8, 13-3 ECC).
Mercy was led by freshman Nathan Robertson (Boston, Mass./The Winchendon School) who had a game-high 19 points with a team-high eight rebounds to go with four assists and three steals. Sophomore Shedrach Makanjuola (Boston, Mass./Quincy College) had 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting with four rebounds and senior Taj Chiles (Harlem, N.Y./University of Bridgeport) had 13 points, four rebounds and two assists in his final collegiate game. Sophomore Derek Long (Milford, Conn./Deerfield Academy) contributed 11 points, five rebounds and two blocks and junior TJ Holloway (Stratford, Conn./Central Connecticut State University) netted 10 points. Junior Thomas Mandell (Southern Pines, N.C./Penn State-Berks) recorded three points and sophomore Zein Wahdan (Alexandria, Egypt/Springfield Commonwealth Academy) had two points, three rebounds and two blocks. Freshman James Connolly (Canton, Ga./The Winchendon School) scored two points.
STAC was led by Shaun Arnold who had a team-high 17 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.
STAC scored the first five points of the game before Mercy went on an 8-2 run to take an 8-7 lead after a Long three. A Holloway three at the 16:02 mark gave the Mavericks an 11-9 lead before the Spartans went on a 16-6 run to take a 25-17 lead with 10:02 left in the half.
A Nathan Robertson three with 5:14 left in the half cut the STAC lead to three, 29-26. However, the Spartans closed the half on a 13-7 run to take a 42-33 lead at halftime.
Another Nathan Robertson layup at the 17:43 mark of the second half got Mercy to within seven, 44-37. STAC answered with a 24-9 run to increase their lead to 22, 68-46, with 8:45 left. The Spartans built the lead to a game-high 29 points, 90-61, with 4:10 remaining and led the rest of the way to earn the 102-75 win.
Mercy shot 39.4 percent (26-of-66) from the floor, 27.3 percent (6-of-22) from downtown and 73.9 percent (17-of-23) from the foul line. STAC shot 49.3 percent (35-of-71) from the field, 47.6 percent (10-of-21) from beyond the arc and 95.7 percent (22-of-23) from the charity stripe. STAC held a 46-32 edge on the glass.
