YORK, PA – The York College men's basketball team bounced back from a poor performance on Wednesday with a solid 73-56 win over Delaware Valley on Thursday afternoon in the consolation game of the 12th Annual Coaches vs. Cancer Classic in York.
The Spartans improve to 7-5 overall while Delaware Valley falls to 2-8 for the campaign.
The Green and White fell behind 6-0 early before using an 8-2 spurt to tie the game at eight. The Aggies recaptured the lead on a Nick Sullivan three-point play and Delaware Valley would eventually push the lead to five with 6:29 left in the first half.
York responded with a big 13-3 run to take a 27-22 lead with just over two minutes left in the half. However, the Aggies scored the final four points of the half to halt the Spartan momentum heading into the half.
It didn't take long for York to recapture the momentum starting the second half. The Green and White blitzed their guests 14-4 to start the second 20 minutes of play. Dalton Derr canned a three to stop the Spartan run but York quickly pushed the lead to 14 before a Jeremy Beckett three-point play trimmed the Spartan lead to nine with 11:01 left. York answered with a 7-0 spurt to increase the lead to 16.
Delaware Valley made one more run at York, cutting the Spartan advantage to 11 on a pair of Beckett free throws but York scored 12 of the final 16 points of the game to provide for the final 17-point margin of victory.
Senior Paul Kouvaris continued his outstanding play as he finished with 21 points and seven rebounds to pace the Spartans. After starting 0-for-3 from the field, Kouvaris made eight of his next nine shots from the field while he canned all five of his free throw attempts in the game. Junior Julian Watson had an outstanding game as the Spartan point guard tallied 18 points, a career-high tying seven rebounds and a season-high five assists in his 36 minutes of work. Watson converted all 12 of his free throw attempts in the win. Junior Todd Maciejewski was the third Spartan in double figures with 11 points while he also had eight boards in the game.
Senior Mo Oursler chipped in with nine points and a career-high tying six caroms.
Beckett paced the Aggies with 15 points, 10 rebounds and six blocked shots. He was 4-for-12 from the floor and 7-for-9 from the free throw line. Derr contributed 11 points while Jay Donovan was the third Aggie in double figures with 10 points.
The Spartans finished the game shooting just 37.1% from the field but they were red hot at the free throw line, canning a season-high 24-of-28 (85.7%) from the stripe. In their last two games, York has made 39-of-46 (84.7%) from the line.
The Spartan defense limited Delaware Valley to just 33.9% shooting from the field. That mark is a season-best for the York defense and marks the second time this year they have held an opponent under 40% shooting in a game.
York held a season-high 21-rebound advantage on the glass as they pulled in a season-best 52 rebounds in the win.
In the championship game, Hartwick used a 60-point second half to pull away from a pesky Penn State-Abington squad, 104-90, in the highest scoring championship game in tournament history.
Tournament MVP Jared Suderley poured in 28 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Hawks. All-Tournament selection Andres Carpio chipped in 17 points in the win.
Penn State-Abington was paced by All-Tournament team selection Mike Marvin as he tallied 23 points and pulled in 14 rebounds. Fellow All-Tournament team selection Mike Colacci contributed 19 points while Will Alton had 17 points and 11 assists in addition to notching his 1,000-career point.
The Spartans return to action on Wednesday night when they travel to nationally ranked Cabrini College. Tip time is set for 8:00 pm.