No. 2 St. Thomas Aquinas Advance to Sixth Straight ECC Title Game; Risquez Joins 1,000-Point Club In 91-82 Victory Over No. 3 Queens

Recap courtesy of Brad Sarno, St. Thomas Aquinas College Sports Information Eight Spartans logged double-digit minutes in the contest.  Derrick James led the maroon and gold with five assists on the night. Luis Risquez hit 10 of his 15 field goal attempts, with 2-of-3 buckets going in from beyond the arc, and 2-of-6 free throws. Shaun Arnold went 6-of-14 from the floor and 3-for-4 from the charity stripe. STAC out-rebounded Queens by a 50-36 margin, with Shaun Arnold also grabbing a game-high 11 boards for the Spartans. St. Thomas Aquinas swiped 11 steals, with the Knights turning the ball over on 21 separate occasions. The Spartans earned advantages in four team statistical categories over Queens: Points off Turnovers (21-18), Second Chance Points (35-10), Points in the Paint (60-30) and Bench Points (29-16). The game featured ten ties and 18 lead changes. STAC's largest lead of the game came with just over three and a half minutes to play in the contest, when Spartans led by 14 points, 78-64, on a Shaun Arnold layup. Luis Risquez led all Spartans scorers with 13 first half points, while shooting 60.0 percent (6-of-10) from the floor and 50.0 percent (1-for-2) from three-point. STAC's best shooting half came in the second stanza as the Spartans shot 41.9 percent (13-31) from the field and 75.0 percent (12-16) from the foul line, while outscoring Queens 52-41. St. Thomas Aquinas has now won 18 straight contests against Queens College going back to January 27, 2016. Seven Knights logged double-digit minutes in the contest.  Shamar Chester led Queens with 30 points, while Damiri Lindo (17 points), Eric Tynes (16 points) and Nasan Ayala (10 points) also scored in double figures. Lindo also led Queens with four assists on the evening. Chester went 8-for-15 from the floor and 13-of-15 from the free throw line. Meanwhile, Lindo went 7-for-17 from the field. Omari Byrd grabbed a game-high 11 boards for the Knights. Queens picked up seven steals, with the Spartans turning the ball over on 13 separate occasions. The Knights earned one advantage in the team statistical categories over St. Thomas Aquinas: Fastbreak Points (10-8). Queens' largest lead of the game came with just over 15 minutes to play in the contest, when Knights led by eight points, 51-43, on a Eric Tynes free throw. Queens led STAC 41-39 going into the halftime locker room and shot 46.2 percent (12-26) from the floor and 93.3 percent (14-15) from the free throw line. Shamar Chester led all scorers with 14 first half points for the Knights, while shooting 80.0 percent (4-for-5) from field and 85.7 percent (6-of-7) from the charity stripe.  
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