YORK, PA – The York College men's basketball squad won their seventh Coaches vs. Cancer Classic tournament title with their 58-52 win over McDaniel College on Saturday afternoon in York. The championship is the first for the Spartans since 2010.
The Spartans improve to 4-0 with the win. McDaniel suffers their first loss as they are now 2-1 overall.
The Green Terror got off to a good start as they led the Spartans 10-6 just over seven minutes into the game. York battled back to tie the score at 11 on a Brad Wesner (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Trinity) triple with 11:56 left in the first half. That began a back-and-forth stretch of play where there were two ties and three lead changes. The Spartans took the lead for good when Blayde Reich (Lebanon, Pa./Lebanon) hit a fall away three-pointer with the shot clock getting ready to expire. That triple gave York an 18-15 lead with 9:47 left in the half.
Reich's three got the Spartans going in the right direction that bucket kick started a 10-2 run as York led 25-17 with just under six minutes left in the half. The Green Terror cut the lead to six but York finished the half on an 8-4 run capped by a huge pull-up three from Mike Duffy (Hanover, Pa./South Western) seven seconds before the halftime horn.
The second half saw the Green Terror cut the Spartan lead to four seven minutes into the half. The Green and White answered the McDaniel thrust with a 9-0 run highlighted by five points from sophomore Matt Scamuffo (Chalfont, Pa./Central Bucks South). While Scamuffo was getting it done on the offensive end, the Spartan defense held McDaniel scoreless for 4:57 seconds of game time, allowing York to push out to a 13-point lead. The Spartans held a 54-44 lead on a pair of Scamuffo free throws with 2:27 left. The Green Terror made a final run at the Spartans as they scored eight of the final 12 points of the game to provide for the final six-point margin of victory for York.
The Spartans were led by tournament MVP Dalton Myers (Finksburg, Md./Westminster) as he tallied a hard-earned 12 points while he also pulled in seven rebounds. Myers was limited to 21 minutes in the game after picking up two quick fouls in the first half. Reich was also named to the All-Tournament team as he notched nine points, five rebounds, one blocked shot and one assist in his 26 minutes of play. Reich was 3-for-4 from the field including 1-of-2 from three. He also made both of his two free throws. Scamuffo chipped in with 11 points in the win. Sophomore Zack Galic (Camp Hill, Pa./Cedar Crest) was again outstanding off the bench for York as he notched a career-high 10 points to go along with five rebounds. Galic was 4-for-4 from the field and 2-for-2 from the free throw in 23 minutes of play.
Freshman Mike Frauenheim (Point Pleasant Beach, N.J./Point Pleasant Beach) didn't score but did dish out a game-high five assists and collected four steals. Both totals were career highs for the Spartan freshman.
Tim Stewart led the Green Terror with a very efficient day. He tallied 14 points on 4-of-4 shooting from the floor and 6-for-8 from the free throw line. Stewart pulled in a team-high six rebounds and dished out one assist in 35 minutes of action. Cameron Royster also reached double figures for McDaniel as he tallied 10 points.
The Spartans finished the game shooting 48.8% from the floor while they went 5-of-15 from distance. York was much better at the free throw line on Saturday as they sank 17 of 21 from the stripe after struggling from the line on Friday night. McDaniel shot 38.6% from the field but went just 3-of-22 from distance. McDaniel went 15-of-23 from the stripe.
The Spartans held a slight 28-26 advantage on the glass as York has now outrebounded all four of their opponents for the year. The Green and White did commit a season-high 19 turnovers while McDaniel made 15 miscues. Both teams got 15 points off of turnovers in the game.
Spartan head coach Matt Hunter was happy with his team earning the win over a tough McDaniel squad.
"It's great for the guys," said Hunter of the tournament championship. "They get to experience the success of winning our championship. I won't allow them to enjoy it for long because we have to get ready for the next one on Tuesday. We keep talking about the process and the most important thing is that we were 1-0 today."
Hunter was pleased with the continued effort of the Spartans on the defensive end of the floor.
"Our guys have really bought into our program defensively and we have done a really good job of making life difficult for our opponents. It's just them continuing to buy into that identity in our toughness and in our spirit. I thought that really carried us through today."
The Spartans return to action on Tuesday night when they travel to Messiah College to square off against the Messiah Falcons. Tip time in Grantham is set for 7:00 pm.