The men’s basketball team is off to a good start, but it has been a battle to get there.

The Saints won their first eight games, but needed overtime in three of the wins. On Saturday, no overtime was needed as the Saints beat Holy Cross, 90-43.

Aquinas shot 64 percent from the field. Junior center Pedja Lazic led the team with 14 points, while sophomore John Lierman and freshman Jason Hill each contributed 13 points.

But what’s been most surprising are the two big wins against Division III teams that came during Thanksgiving weekend as a part of the Grand Rapids Sports Hall of Fame Tournament.

On Nov. 23 senior forward Jeff Wierzbicki hit a buzzer-beating three pointer against Hope, leading them to a 78-69 win. He had 21 points and 11 rebounds.

The following day, Lazic hit the game winner with three seconds left against Calvin in double overtime, sending the Saints to a 90-88 win. In the win over Calvin, three Saints had double-doubles — Lazic had 20 points and 13 rebounds, Lierman had 26 and 12 and Wierzbicki had 12 and 10.

Lierman also had 26 points against Hope and was named MVP of the tournament.

“The leadership of Lazic and Wierzbicki has been very important, especially with Wierzbicki,” said sophomore
forward Dave Baldwin. “He brings a toughness and energy to every practice and at game time.

“And you can always count on Lazic to put in a good performance. He comes in and does his business.”

The play of Lierman, who is leading the team with 17 points per game, has also been crucial to the Saints’ success.

“Lierman is deceptively quick,” said Baldwin. “He is very smart and that is what makes him such a good passer.

“He can read things going on and jump passes.”

Meanwhile, the players coming off of the bench continue to work towards consistency.

“We are still trying to establish a good, consistent rotation,” said Baldwin.

“Players like Jason Fox have come from the bench and done good things.”

The Saints will visit Hope again this weekend for the Holland Sentinel Community Classic, where Aquinas will
open the tournament on Friday against Trinity International. Aquinas will close out 2007 by playing in the Robert Morris Tournament on Dec. 14 and 15, making the short trip to Grand Valley State on Dec. 21 and finally playing in the Ashland (Ohio) Holiday Tournament.

“We want to finish our pre-conference season strong, obviously,” said Baldwin. “If we keep playing well, the wins will take care of themselves.

“We rely a lot on outside shooting so we need to focus on our defense for those days when our shooting is off.”

The 2008 portion of their season will start with a bang when the Saints travel the Beltline to rival Cornerstone on Jan. 5.

The Saints will be wary of the Golden Eagles’ sophomore center Matt Kingshott, who is averaging over 20 points per game. Freshman forward Kelvin DeVries is also a legitimate scoring threat for Cornerstone. The rivalry game will begin the conference season, where the Saints were preseason favorites to win the WHAC.

“Last year we went 3-1 against Cornerstone and they had two All-Americans,” said Baldwin. “Now the roles are reversed a little bit, and we can’t let them to us what we did to them.”