AMHERST, M.A. – The York College men's basketball team saw its postseason run come to an end against Amherst College in the second round of the NCAA tournament on Saturday afternoon, losing by a score of 63-51.

The Cardinals gave Amherst—the defending national champion—quite a game. York led by two points at the half and trailed by just one possession in the final minutes of action.  But Amherst closed the game on an 11-2 run to put York away. 

With the win, Amherst moves on to next weekend's Sweet 16, while York closes out its historic 2013-14 season with a record of 22-8.  22 wins are the second highest total in school history.

Both teams got off to sloppy starts. The Cardinals opened the game shooting 1-of-11 from the field in the first six minutes.  But Amherst couldn't capitalize on York's cold start because they were having their own offensive troubles.   

Amherst committed six turnovers in the first ten minutes, which allowed York to go on an 8-0 run to take a 10-5 lead with 11:08 in the half.  The transition game was working well for York early, with a number of fast break points leading to the Cardinal run.     

However, York then found itself in foul trouble shortly after, as starters Omar St. John (Jamaica, NY/ Martin Van Buren) and Donald Rodriguez (Brooklyn, NY/ Franklin K. Lane) picked up their second foul midway through the half.  With York forced to go to their bench early, Amherst would take the lead for the first time since the opening minutes, after a three-point play by David Kalema put them up 21-19 with 2:50 to go.  But York scored the final four points of the first half, with Justin Garvin (Hollis, NY/ Bayside) hitting a put back just before halftime, to give York a 23-21 cushion. 

York got off to a rocky start in the second half, with Amherst scoring the first seven points.  After a York bucket, Amherst scored another five straight to go up 35-25, with 15:19 to go.  A pair of three's by Kalema helped Amherst build up the lead.

After Amherst extended its lead to 11 points on a David George dunk, York was able to regroup a bit and closed to within four, after a Michael Woods (Brooklyn, NY/ Baldwin) three made it 45-41 with 7:10 to go.  But Amherst's Aaron Toomey—last year's National Player of the Year, responded with an acrobatic three-point play to put them up by seven (48-41).   

York had one last push though, and cut the deficit to three points after a Woods lay-up with 3:30 to go.  But the Lord Jeffs would not be denied and closed out the game with the aforementioned 11-2 run to move on to the next round.  Toomey hit eight free throws in the last two minutes to ice the game. 

The Lord Jeffs came into the game with a big height advantage on York and that was evident in the box score.  Amherst dominated on the glass, grabbing 51 rebounds to York's 34, which led to 18 second-chance points.

"This is a team we didn't want to give first-chance points to," said York Head Coach Ronald St. John. "Second-chance points would only hurt us.  We knew we had to work hard on rebounds and they just got way too many second-chance points."

Neither team shot well, but Amherst had the edge at 35.7 percent, while York shot just 32.3 percent—its lowest total of the season. 

"We were taking bad shots," said St. John.  "We forced the issue too much.  That hurt us tremendously. We had our worst shooting day this year and it was a three-point game with three minutes left."

Woods finished with a team-high 19 points and seven boards but shot just 8-of-28 from the field and 1-of-9 from the arc.  St. John finished with 11 points.

Amherst was led by Kalema, who scored a game-high 21 points, to go along with eight boards.  Toomey added 15 points and 12 boards, and was a perfect, 11-for-11 from the free throw line.  Tom Killiam had a double-double, with ten points and ten boards.

"We were told they stick to their game plan. And they did. They stuck to their game plan and it paid off for them," said St. John.

Despite the loss for York, this will go down as the most successful season in their school's history.  They won their fourth CUNY Athletic Conference title and earned their first win in the NCAA Tournament. 

"It's one of the best season's we had," added St. John.  "The guys were just terrific.  They were fun to be with and be around. And it was an accomplishment to advance past the first round and be in the game for a chance to advance to the Sweet 16."