YORK, PA – The Marymount University Saints won a Capital Athletic Conference defensive struggle on Saturday as the Saints edged the Spartans 63-53 in York.
The Saints improve to 14-7 overall and 6-6 in the conference as they remain squarely in the hunt for a CAC Tournament berth. The loss drops the Spartans to 4-17 overall and 3-10 in the conference.
Marymount jumped on their hosts early as they roared out to an 11-2 lead. York cut the Saints lead to six but Marymount quickly pushed their lead back to 12 at 20-8 with 8:09 left in the half.
The Saints lead bounced between seven and 11 points over the final seven minutes of the half before Marymount took a 33-22 lead to the break.
The Green and White went on a 12-4 run in the early stages of the second half as they cut the Marymount lead to just three at 42-39. Marymount's Rick Narcisse halted the Spartan run with a lay up while Jesse Konadu followed with a pair of free throws to push the Saint lead back to seven.
York got back to within four two minutes later but that would be as close as the Spartans would get. Marymount went on a quick six-point run to push the lead back to ten. York tallied the next two buckets to get to within six but the Saints scored seven straight to push the lead to 13 with 1:13 remaining in the game.
York would get a Brad Wesner (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Trinity) three with 1:01 left but that wouldn't be enough as the Saints hit a pair of long passes to beat the pressure and keep York at bay over the final minute.
Marymount placed four players in double figures led by Reed Scott as the senior forward recorded 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field. Scott had a three pointer and two free throws while he also pulled in seven rebounds, blocked two shots, handed out three assists and had a pair of steals. Konadu contributed 13 points and four rebounds in his 33 minutes of work. Michael Anderson and JC Hoellich each tallied 10 points for the Saints. Hoellich pulled a game-high eight rebounds for the visitors.
Seniors Mike Mathews (Newark, Del./Salesianum) and Matt McNeely (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) powered the Spartans with 15 points each. Mathews was 7-for-14 from the floor and 1-for-2 from the line. He also led the Spartans with six rebounds in the loss. McNeely was 7-for-10 from the floor and 1-for-2 from the stripe in his 34 minutes of action. Freshman point guard Joey Feinberg (New City, N.Y./Don Bosco Prep) handed out seven assists while he also had three steals and four rebounds for York.
The two squads were very close in shooting percentage as Marymount was 24-for-55 (43.6%) from the floor while York was 23-for-54 (42.6%). The Saints canned six threes for the game while the Spartans went just 2-for-14 (14.3%). Marymount was 9-for-11 from the stripe while York was only 5-for-8. York held a 33-32 margin in total rebounds for the game.
The Spartans return to action on Wednesday when they travel to St. Mary's College to face the Seahawks in a league tilt. The game kicks off a three-game road trip for the Spartans. Tip time is set for 8:00 pm in St. Mary's City.