YORK, PA – The York College men's basketball team ended the fall semester portion of their campaign with an impressive 94-71 victory over La Roche College in a non-conference contest at Charles Wolf Gym on Wednesday evening. The Spartans improve to 6-4 overall while the Redhawks had their five game win streak snapped, falling to 7-2 overall.
LaRoche entered the contest having won 35 of their last 39 contests including a trip to last year's Division III National Tournament.
The Spartans got off to a good start, a departure from the past two contests when they have fallen behind early. York forged a 10-4 lead just over five minutes into the game. The Redhawks trimmed York's lead to two at 15-13 on a Ryan Frantz three but York answered La Roche with a pair of Mitch Kemp three-balls on back-to-back possessions, kicking the York lead back to eight. Kemp's threes kicked started a 12-2 run that increased the Spartan advantage to 27-15 with 8:59 remaining in the half.
La Roche cut the York to eight two minutes later but the Spartans put together a 17-4 run as a Jeremy Skoloda three increased York's advantage to 21 at 44-23 with 2:12 left in the opening stanza. The Spartans eventually pushed their lead to 22 with their 49-27 advantage at the break.
Senior Paul Kouvaris opened up the second half for York with a basket as the lead grew to 24. La Roche managed to trim the York lead to 15 at 56-41 with 13:54 left. However, York used a 7-1 spurt to push the lead back to 21. The Spartan lead would not fall below 16 points the rest of the way. York capped the scoring on a Jordan Martz three with 36 seconds left, giving York the 26 point lead, their largest lead of the game. The Redhawks hit a three with 27 seconds left to provide for the Spartans' final 23-point margin of victory, their biggest margin of the year.
Kouvaris continues his march to 1,000 career points as the forward is now just 10 points short of the milestone after his 24 point performance in the win. Kouvaris was 8-for-10 from the floor and 8-for-11 from the free throw line. He also pulled in seven rebounds while he had two assists in his 32 minutes of work.
Kemp was impressive off the bench as the junior tallied 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the floor including 4-of-5 from distance. He split his two free throws while he grabbed two rebounds and handed out two assists. Senior Mo Oursler contributed 14 points and four assists to the Spartan attack while junior Todd Maciejewski was the fourth Spartan in double figures with 10 points. Maciejewski added seven rebounds and a career-high tying five assists. He also had three steals in the win.
Seven other Spartans scored in the win, the highest number of scorers in a game this season. The 94 points are also a season-high offensive output for the Green and White.
Joel McIntosh paced the Redhawks with 21 points in just 23 minutes of action. He was 8-for-14 from the floor including 3-of-6 from three. He was 2-for-5 from the free throw line while he also had four rebounds for La Roche. Michael Dixon added 13 points, three assists, and two rebounds while Derek Barber-Richards was the third Redhawk in double figures with 11 points. Barber-Richards added six rebounds and two blocked shots. David Jackson pulled in a game-high 12 rebounds in addition to six points for La Roche.
The Spartans were fantastic at taking care of the ball as they committed a season-low six turnovers while they accumulated 23 assists. The 23 assists were a season-best by six while the turnovers were the lowest by eight.
York finished the game shooting a season-high 56.9% from the floor and 10-for-16 (62.5%) from three. The 10 three-pointers made tied a season-high while the 62.5% was the best mark of the year. The Spartans shot 64.3% (18-for-28) from the stripe in the win.
La Roche was held to 37.5% shooting in the first half when the Spartans forged the big advantage. The Redhawks ended the game shooting 43.8% from the floor and 33.3% (8-of-24) from three. La Roche converted just 7-of-14 from the free throw line.
The Redhawks held a slight 38-34 advantage on the glass. It is only the second time this year that the Spartans' have been outrebounded in a game.
The Spartans are now off until Wednesday, December 28 when York hosts the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic. York faces PSU-Abington in the opening round of the tournament at 6:00 pm. Hartwick and Delaware Valley follow in the second semifinal at 8:00 pm.