YORK, PA – The York College men's basketball team opened up their Capital Athletic Conference schedule with a 78-69 victory over Wesley College on Wednesday night in York.
The Spartans improve to 5-1 overall and 1-0 in the league. The Wolverines are a very deceptive 1-4 overall while they are now 0-1 in the conference.
The Spartans got off to a fantastic start in the game as they led 15-5 at the first media time out of the game. The run was keyed by Matt Scamuffo (Chalfont, Pa./Central Bucks South) as the sophomore had a three-point play, a three pointer, and a pair of free throws to score eight of the 15 points on the run. York pushed their lead to 20-7 on a Brad Wesner (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Trinity) triple with 11:20 left in the half. The Wolverines scored the next seven points of the game to trim York's advantage to six points. York responded with a 10-2 run, extending their lead to 14 with just under seven minutes left in the half.
The Wolverines weren't about to go away and they went on a 7-0 spurt late in the half to cut York's lead to 36-31 with just 2:20 left in the half. With momentum quickly siding with the Wolverines, Scamuffo came up huge with a three pointer to halt the Wesley run. Senior Chris Conway (Luthersville, Md./Dulaney) converted a pair of free throws with 20 seconds left to push the York halftime lead to 41-31.
The Wolverines came out of the break and cut the York lead to nine twice in the opening four minutes of the stanza. However, the Green and White responded by pushing the lead to 15 points on Conway's big three-pointer from the right corner with 11:55 left in the game. The Spartans would eventually push the lead to a game-high 21 points on a pair of Mike Duffy (Hanover, Pa./South Western) free throws with 5:22 left in the game.
With the Spartans having a big lead late, things got a little interesting as the Wolverines turned up the physical pressure, causing a number of Spartan miscues in the final four minutes of play. The Spartans led 74-55 after Dalton Myers (Finksburg, Md./Westminster) converted a lay up with 3:45 left. The Wolverines would outscore York 14-4 over the final 3:25 of the game. Fortunately for the Green and White, their play in the first 36 minutes of the game allowed them to remain in control of the game. The Spartans never trailed in the game.
Myers powered the Spartans with a season-high 25 points as he was a blistering 11-for-15 from the field including 1-for-1 from three. Myers made 2-of-3 from the stripe while he also had five rebounds and four assists in his 31 minutes of play. Scamuffo established a new career-high for the second straight game as he poured in 24 points in the win. The sophomore was 6-for-8 from the floor including 3-for-5 from three. Scamuffo was a career-high 9-for-10 from the charity stripe while he also had three rebounds in his 31 minutes of play.
Duffy added eight points, four assists and two rebounds while his back-up, freshman Colin Costello (West Chester, Pa./West Chester Henderson), played a season high 17 minutes as he dished out a career-high four assists with one rebound during his time on the floor.
Anthony Bowers led the Wolverines with 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting including 1-for-2 from three and 2-for-2 from the line. Wayne Lennon, JW Lawson, and Evan Anderson each added eight rebounds to the Wesley offense. Saeed Kelley led the Wolverines on the glass with four rebounds in 17 minutes of play.
The Spartans shot a season-best 61% from the floor while they were 7-of-14 from three. York did a great job from the line as they went 21-for-26 (80.8%) for the game. Wesley shot 47.1% from the floor, the highest field goal percentage the Spartans have allowed this year. The Wolverines were 8-for-18 (44.4%) from three and 13-for-18 (72.2%) from the free throw line.
York held a 28-20 edge on the glass as York held a slight 12-11 margin in second chance points. The Spartans committed 16 turnovers including five in the last 3:02 of the game. Wesley had 14 turnovers in the loss.
The Spartans head out on the road on Saturday when they travel to Southern Virginia University for a Capital Athletic Conference contest in Buena Vista, Virginia. The Spartans will be looking for their first win on the road against the Knights as York is 0-2 in Buena Vista. Tip time is set for 3:00 pm.