WASHINGTON, DC – The York College men's basketball team dropped a 87-68 decision to former Capital Athletic Conference rival Catholic University in the opening round of the CUA-Holiday Inn College Park Invitational in Washington, DC on Monday afternoon.
The Spartans have now dropped two straight as they fall to 2-7 overall. The Cardinals improve to 7-3, as they remain perfect at home with a 4-0 mark.
The Cardinals got off to a blazing start as they jumped out to a 14-2 lead just over five and a half minutes into the game. The Spartans battled back, cutting the Cardinal lead to 20-11 on a Brad Wesner (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Trinity) jumper with 9:21 remaining in the opening half.
The Cardinals wasted little time in pushing the lead up to 15 on a pair of Kyle Phanord triples in consecutive possessions. The Spartans answered with a 7-0 spurt to cut their deficit to eight at 26-18. The Cardinals ended the half strong as they scored 13 of the final 19 points of the half to take a 39-24 lead to the break.
The Spartans struggled to take care of the ball in the first half as they committed 16 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes. The veteran Cardinals made the Spartans pay with 20 points off those 16 Spartan miscues.
Catholic opened the second half with a 7-2 spurt in the first minute and a half of the stanza, pushing out to a 20 point lead. The Green and White kept fighting, eventually trimming the Cardinal lead to 13 at 61-48. Unfortunately for York, the Cardinals answered the Spartan run with an 8-0 spurt to quickly push the lead to 21 with 8:23 left in the game. York would not get to within less than 18 the rest of the way in falling to the Cardinals.
Jay Howard led the Cardinals with 25 points and nine rebounds in the win. He was 11-for-17 from the floor but just 3-for-9 from the free throw line. He also had two assists and two steals as he played 35 minutes despite the lopsided score. Phanord added 18 points as he was 5-for-10 from three and 3-for-4 from the free throw line. Corey Stanford was the third Cardinal in double figures with 16 points while he also had six rebounds and four assists in his 31 minutes of play. Louis Khouri was the fourth Cardinal in double digits as he tallied 10 points.
Wesner came off the bench to tally a career-high tying 17 points as he was 6-for-10 from the floor including 3-for-4 from three. Wesner sank both of his free throw attempts in the game. Freshman Matt Scamuffo (Chalfont, Pa./Central Bucks South) was the other Spartan in double figures as he tallied 11 points. Scamuffo has reached double figures in his last two contests. Dalton Myers (Finksburg, Md./Westminster) and Max Bell (Finksburg, Md./Francis Scott Key) each added eight points to the Spartan effort.
The Spartans shot a season-best 54.2% from the floor and were fantastic from three (53.8%) in the game. Unfortunately for York, they attempted just 48 shots in the game as they committed 25 turnovers in the loss. The 48 shots for York were 16 less than Catholic attempted in the game.
CUA finished the contest shooting 48.4% from the floor and 47.8% (11-for-23) from three. Catholic struggled from the free throw line as they went just 14-for-26 (53.8%) from the stripe.
Catholic finished the game with a slight 34-33 edge in rebounding while they also held an 18-15 advantage in second chance points.
The 25 Spartan turnovers led to 34 Cardinal points. CUA finished the game with nine turnovers, right on their season average. Catholic is one of the top teams in Division III in taking care of the basketball and today wasn't any different.
After starting the season averaging 11.8 turnovers per game in their first five games, the Spartans are averaging 21.8 miscues per game over their last four contests.
The Spartans return to action on Tuesday afternoon when they face the loser of the tournament's second semifinal game between Guilford and Southern Maine. The consolation game tips off at 5:00 pm.