STANDOUT PERFORMERS

• Becht – 20 points (7-11 FG, 4-7 3-FG, 2-2 FT), 4 rebounds, career-high 6 assists
• Junior Derrick Grant Jr. (Plainfield, N.J.) – 13 points (4-5 FG, 5-5 FT),4 rebounds, 2 blocks
• Senior Noah Kamba (Lynn, Mass.) – 12 points (3-6 FG, 2-5 3-FG, 4-6 FT), 2 rebounds
• Junior Kurtis Henderson (Brockton, Mass.) – 10 points (3-10 FG, 1-5 3-FG, 3-4 FT), 2 rebounds, 2 assists
• Junior Paul Greene (Freeport, Bahamas) – 8 points (3-8 FG, 2-2 FT), 12 rebounds, 2 assists

KEY MOMENTS

• Southern New Hampshire jumped out to a 14-5 lead in the opening 4:07, as five different Penmen contributed, including Henderson, who led the way with six points. The margin was six at 30-24 with more than six minutes left in the first half when a 17-4 burst flipped St. Thomas Aquinas into the lead at 41-34 with 2:50 remaining. The Spartans would go into the break with a 45-38 advantage.
• SNHU scored 15 of the first 22 points of the second half to go back in front, 53-52, less than four minutes in. Brathwaite canned a pair of 3-pointers during the stretch. The game was knotted at 66 with under nine minutes on the clock when STAC used a 10-2 run to open a 76-68 lead with 6:09 to play. SNHU would get as close as 84-81 on a Becht layup with 28 seconds left, but the Spartans would go 4-for-4 from the line down the stretch to seal it.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Junior Jordan Brathwaite (Silver Spring, Md.) recorded eight points (3-4 FG, 2-2 3-FG).
• Grad student Alex Rivera (Lowell, Mass.) tallied six points (2-10 FG, 2-9 3-FG), six rebounds and four assists.
• St. Thomas Aquinas outshot Southern New Hampshire, 50 percent (30-60) to 46.6 percent (27-58), including 38.9 percent (7-18) to 37.9 percent (11-29) from downtown. The Spartans were also better at the line, 87.5 percent (21-24) to 84.2 percent (16-19).
• The Penmen won the glass (32-23), while the Spartans captured the paint (34-28), scored more points off turnovers (23-4), second chance points (15-13) and on the fast break (13-11), received more scoring from their bench (27-24) and turned in a better assist-to-turnover ratio (11/11-17/20).

NOTES

• After winning 14 straight season openers, Southern New Hampshire has now dropped two-in-a-row.
• St. Thomas Aquinas, which is receiving votes in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II Coaches Poll, avenges last season's 78-64 loss to SNHU in the opening round of the NCAA East Regional Championship and now leads the all-time series, 3-2.

WHAT'S NEXT

• The Penmen are back in action Saturday (Nov. 10) at 2 p.m. when they take on Staten Island.