YORK, Pa.— The Hood College men's basketball team (12-8, 4-7 CAC) was defeated by York College (Pa.) (13-7, 8-3 CAC) 72-63 in another conference setback for the Blazers. The loss dropped Hood into a tie with Salisbury in the loss column for sixth in the Capital Athletic Conference standings with five conference games remaining.

Junior forward Justin Stone led the Blazers in scoring with 12 while senior guard Ramon Smith also chipped in with 11 points. Hood's two leading scorers on the season, Cameron Cook and LaVar Rich, were held to 13 points combined on the afternoon. The Spartan defense kept the main Blazer scorers in check and also forced 20 turnovers. Hood was also without standout forward Trey Quinn, who recently broke his nose and was held out of this game for precautionary reasons. York had four players reach double-figures, including Julian Watson, who had a team-high 18 and Paul Kouvaris who scored 17.

York got off to a very fast start as they doubled the Blazers up in the first ten minutes of the first half taking an 18-8 lead off a Todd Maciejewski made shot and free throw. Maciejewski scored 10 of his 11 points in the first stanza. Rich tried to spark the Blazers with a dunk to bring Hood within nine at 25-16 at the four-minute mark of the half. Sophomore guard Justin Bowens, who started for the first time in his Blazer career, scored a basket and a free throw to cut York's lead to six with 20.0 seconds left but a backbreaking layup by Watson gave York an eight-point halftime advantage and momentum heading into the second half.

York maintained a double-digit lead for the majority of the second half pushing its lead to as much as 16 after a Jeremy Skoloda three with just six minutes remaining in the second half. The resilient Blazers did not give in though and fought back to make it close at the end. Junior Jordan Diggs cut the York lead to seven at 61-54 after a layup and a made free throw with just over two minutes remaining, however York always seemed to have an answer as Kouvaris made a layup on the other end. Senior Ramon Smith made two jumpers down the stretch to keep Hood within six with a minute remaining but the Spartans made seven free throws down the stretch to keep its lead safe en route to sending the Blazers to their second straight road conference defeat.

Hood returns to action in a crucial CAC contest this Wednesday at BB&T Arena against rival Frostburg State University. The game is set for an 8 p.m. tip.