Cold-Shooting Spells Doom For Men's Hoops In 2018 ECC Championship Game

Rochester, N.Y.-The University of Bridgeport men's basketball team just could never find its rhythm on offense on Sunday afternoon, as the top-seeded Purple Knights fell in the 2018 East Coast Conference Tournament Championship Game to the second-seeded Spartans of St. Thomas Aquinas College, 82-65. The loss snaps a school-record 16-game winning streak for the Purple Knights who are now 25-5 overall. STAC is now 26-6 overall, and the Spartans, who will receive an automatic bid to 2018 NCAA Division II National Championship Tournament, have won three consecutive ECC Tournament titles. Bridgeport will receive word on an NCAA Tournament at-large bid at 10:30 p.m. this evening, and fans can watch the unveiling of this year's NCAA Field of 64 at www.ncaa.com

STAC raced out to a 38-26 lead at half, as the Purple Knights hit only 6-of-31 shots in the first half (19.4 percent). For the game, UB hit only 18-of-64 shots (28.1 percent).

Freshman Hashem Abbas (Nablus, Palestine) led Bridgeport with 14 points off the bench, and he was joined in double figures by senior Sam Joseph (Brooklyn, N.Y.) with 13 points and junior Vakas Iqbal (Staten Island, N.Y.) with 10 points. Joseph and Iqbal were selected to the 2018 All-ECC Tournament Team at the end of play.

STAC dominated the glass on Sunday, taking advantage of the Purple Knights' cold shooting, to finish with a 51-31 advantage on the boards.

Justin Reyes, who was selected the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, led St. Thomas Aquinas with 24 points.