Staten Island, NY  |  The College of Staten Island Men's Baketball team suffered their first defeat at home this year as they fell to the #16-ranked Spartans of St. Thomas Aquinas Collge by a final scorre of 86-66.  The defeat drops CSI to 2-4 on the season and with the victory the Spartans improve to 7-1.

The Dolphins scored the game's first basket on a three-pointer by Andrew Kartalis just sixteen seconds into the game, but from there neither team would get on the scoreboard for over three and a half minutes until the Spartans registered their first make of the game at the 16:18 mark.  However, that make seemed to ignite the offense for CSI as the Dolphins responded with back-to-back threes by Adeola Latunji and Joseph Zieris to go ahead 9-2.  This lead would be CSI's largest of the game though it was erased quickly by a 10-2 Spartans run.

Trailing 12-10, the Dolphins got even with a pair of free-throws by Zieris, but the Spartans rattled off five straight to go back up by five.  Yet again, CSI had an answer as they immediately got level on a jumper by Rigaud Destime followed by a Chris Velasquez three-ball.  However, CSI went ice-cold from the field during the next two minutes missing three consecutive attempts from long-range as the Spartans scored ten unanswered points to go ahead 27-17.

The Dolphins were able to remain within eight until the final four minutes of the half, but the Spartans surged ahead by 14 with another 7-0 run.  That deficit would carry through the end of the first half as the Dolphins headed into the locker room down 42-28. 

Leading the way in scoring for St. Thomas Aquinas in the first twenty minutes was Osbel Caraballo with 12.  Louis Griffith was second in scoring with 8 and Sekou Cisse grabbed a team-leading 8 boards.  For the Dolphins, Latunji led the way with 8 points and Kartalis and Zieris added 6 and 5 respectively.  On the glass, it was a dominant performance in the half for the Spartans as they held a 22-10 advantage on the boards at the break.

Following the intermission, the Spartans jumped ahead by 19 with five straight points, but the Dolphins were able to get as close as 14 with just over fifteen minutes remaining in the game.  This was as close as CSI would get the rest of way as the Spartans maintained a comfortable lead through the closing minutes to pick up the 86-66 win.  The Dolphins shot 15-29 but only 3-14 from beyond the arc in half number two, but the Spartans connected on 15-28 attempts from the field including 5-12 from downtown, ultimately outscoring CSI by only six in the final twenty minutes.

Latunji's 22 points led CSI in scoring with Kartalis, Zieris and Velasquez all scoring in double-figures as well.  The Spartans also had four players record double-digits as Demetre Roberts, Cisse, and Caraballo all had 16 while Griffith finished with 14.  The Spartans won the battle on the glass 38-25 and shot over 50% from the field with the Dolphins connecting on 47% of their shot attempts.

Next up for the Dolphins is a meeting with CUNYAC rival CCNY on Tuesday night as part of a men's and women's basketball doubleheader.  The women will tip-off at 5:30 with the men's game to follow at approximately 7:30 PM.

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