Bridgeport Scratches Out 81-77 Comeback ECC Men's Hoops Victory At St. Thomas Aquinas

Sparkill, N.Y.-The University of Bridgeport men's basketball team bounced back from a 12-point, first deficit (28-16) and from being down 40-32 at the half to post a tough, 81-77, come-from-behind East Coast Conference win over the host St. Thomas Aquinas College Spartans on Thursday night.  With the win, the Purple Knights stay right in the thick of the battle for the right to host games in this season's ECC Championship Tournament with a conference mark of 8-5 and an overall record of 10-9.  STAC is also 10-9 overall, but the Spartans slip to 6-7 in conference action.

With the score tied at 73-73 with 1:28 to play, UB would take a lead of 74-73 which it never relinquished when senior JoJo Swift (Brooklyn, N. Y.), who finished as the game's leading scorer with 23 points, split two free throws with 1:21 to go.  UB senior Curtis Loving (Harlem, N.Y.), who finished with nine points on the night, also split a pair of free throws 30 seconds later to up the Purple Knights' advantage to 75-73. Senior Ivan Simic (Belgrade, Serbia) then sealed the win by hitting a jumper,  to give him 15 points for the winners, with 23 seconds reaming to up UB's lead to 77-73, and STAC would get no closer then two points the rest of the game.

Junior Sean Berry (Irvington, N.J.) joined Swift and Simic in double-digit scoring for Bridgeport with 15 points, and he fell just shy of another double-double grabbing nine rebounds.

Chaz Walter led the Spartans with 16 points, and teammate Omar Kellman notched a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds.

The UB men's basketball team will look to run its winning streak to three games on Saturday afternoon when the Purple Knights host Mercy College.  Game time is set for 3:00 p.m.