YORK, PA – The York College men's basketball team rode a huge first half to roll past the Marymount University Saints 78-62 in Capital Athletic Conference play on Saturday afternoon in York.
The Spartans have won two of their last three as they improve to 6-9 overall and 2-2 in the CAC. Marymount is still in search of their first conference win as they fall to 0-4 in the league and 4-11 overall.
The Green and White got off to fantastic start in the game. After Marymount scored the first point of the contest, York ripped off 10 straight points over the next four minutes to take the early nine-point lead.
After the Saints drew to within seven at 12-5, the Spartans ripped off a 27-4 run that covered just over eight minutes of play. The huge run pushed the Spartan lead to a commanding 39-9 with 6:49 left in the first half.
Late in the half featured a strange series as the Saints' frustrations boiled over with 3:37 remaining in the stanza. With Todd Maciejewski (Red Lion, Pa./Red Lion) at the free throw line, Marymount's Reed Scott was whistled for a foul on the box out. That began a crazy stretch where the Saints' Brenden Cuyler was called for back-to-back technical fouls, which gave him an early exit to the contest. Spartan Mitch Kemp (York, Pa./York Suburban) hit the four technical foul shots after Cuyler's two techs. The Marymount bench was then teed up and Kemp sank those two more freebies to push the York lead to 33 at 49-16.
The Spartans shot 51.9% in the first half while they forced ten first half turnovers and they converted those Saints' miscues into 17 points.
The second half saw the Spartans push the lead to 36 on threes from Kemp and Jeremy Skoloda (Leola, Pa./Conestoga Valley). That margin would be the Spartans' largest of the day. The Spartan starters would play another five to seven minutes before yielding to the reserves. The Saints would outscore the Spartan bench 25-8 over the final 10 minutes of the game, making the final score appear to be much closer than the game actually was.
Kemp poured in 20 points to lead the Spartans as he banged home a career-high 10 free throws in as many attempts. He was 4-for-6 from the floor and 2-for-4 from three. Kemp also had six rebounds, two assists, and two steals in just 20 minutes of work. Junior Matt McNeely (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) added a career-high 16 points in a career-high 21 minutes. McNeely was 4-for-7 from the field including a three pointer. He was 7-for-9 from the free throw line in the win.
Maciejewski was the third Spartan in double figures with 12 points while he also had three rebounds. Twelve Spartans saw action in the win and 11 of those players reached the scoring column, a season high for the Green and White.
Timothy Brisco came off the bench and tallied a game-high 22 points in 25 minutes of play. Brisco was 8-for-13 from the floor including 4-of-8 from three and 2-for-2 from the stripe. Scott added 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the floor before he fouled out midway through the second half.
York finished the game shooting 50% from the field while they went 8-for-20 (40%) from three. The Spartans were also efficient from the line as they went 24-for-31 (77.4%) in the win. Marymount shot 39.6% from the floor and 33.3% (7-for-21) from downtown. The Saints went 13-for-17 (76.5%) from the charity stripe.
The win ends the Spartans' season-high five game home stand as York now takes to the road to face Frostburg State on Wednesday night. Tip time in Frostburg is set for 8:00 pm.