YORK, PA – The York College men's basketball team saw their fantastic season come to a close as the Hamilton Continentals edged the Spartans 69-66 in the second round of the 2018 NCAA Division III Tournament. The Continentals advance to face Springfield, the winner of the Cabrini pod, next Friday at a site to be determined.
Game #29 – NCAA DIVISION III MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT – SECOND ROUND
Records: #11 York 24-5, #13 Hamilton 24-4
Final Score: York 66, Hamilton 69
Field Goals: York 19-for-49, Hamilton 24-for-55
Field Goal %: York 38.8%, Hamilton 43.6%
Three Point FG: York 6-for-20, Hamilton 6-for-16
Three Point FG %: York 30.0%, Hamilton 37.5%
Free Throws: York 22-for-31, Hamilton 15-for-22
Free Throw %: York 71.0%, Hamilton 68.2%
Rebounds: York 42, Hamilton 30
Assists: York 8, Hamilton 10
Turnovers: York 21, Hamilton 15
Blocked Shots: York 4, Hamilton 1
Steals: York 7, Hamilton 12
How It Happened
• The Continentals got off to a good start as they jumped on the Spartans 11-6 in the opening five and a half minutes of the game. The Spartans bounced back with a 13-5 spurt to push out to a 19-16 lead. The remainder of the first half was a see-saw affair. The opening 20 minutes featured eight ties and 14 lead changes as neither team every really gained control of the game.
• The Continentals started the half with four quick points to take a lead that they would ultimately not surrender. Hamilton slowly pulled away from the Green and White in the early stages of the second half. The Continentals increased their lead to seven on a Kena Gilmour jumper with 12:47 left in the game.
• York used the next six minutes to trim Hamilton's lead to one as they outscored their guests 10-4 over that time span, as the Continentals led 57-56 with 8:35 left. Hamilton answered with a 7-0 spurt, pushing the lead to eight with 6:40 left in the game. The Spartans continued to climb back but they never were able to get over the hump.
• The Continentals to a Michael Grassey jumper with 4:56 left in the game as they were up 66-62. The Spartans would then hold Hamilton scoreless until Joe Pucci split a pair of free throws with 32 seconds left. The problem for York is that they couldn't convert on the offensive end as they scored just two points during Hamilton's scoreless stretch.
• With the Continentals leading by three, Jason Bady got a put back off a miss to cut the Spartan deficit to one with 20 seconds left. The Spartans fouled Pucci again and he missed the first and made the second to put the Continentals up two with 18 seconds left. Senior Blayde Reich took a deep three on the Spartans ensuing possession but Hamilton's Andrew Groll got the long rebound with seven seconds left. He made the first but missed the second giving York life on their final possession. The Spartans got a good look as Bady's three from the left win just caught the back of the iron and bounced away as Hamilton got out of York with the win.
Spartan Leaders
Dalton Myers: 20 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal
Matt Scamuffo: 19 points, 5 rebounds, 1 steal
Jared Wagner: 11 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, 4 steals
Blayde Reich: 6 points, 7 rebounds 3 blocked shots
Continental Leaders
Kena Gilmour: 20 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 5 steals
Tim Doyle: 16 points, 5 assists, 1 rebound, 1 block, 2 steals
Joe Pucci: 8 points, 5 rebounds, 1 steal
Michael Grassey: 8 points, 3 rebounds
Game Notes:
The Spartans are now 5-6 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and are 1-2 in the second round games … York defeated Virginia Wesley 90-80 in the second round of 2005 while they fell to Widener 71-69 in the second round of the 2006 tournament … York's 24 wins are the third highest total in school history just behind the 2004-05 team (28 wins) and the 2005-06 squad (25 wins) … the loss ends the memorable careers of three great Spartans as Dalton Myers, Matt Scamuffo, and Blayde Reich have played their final games in the Green and White … the class began their careers with a 5-20 record in 2014-15 and finished their careers with the final record of 24-5 … all three seniors finished their careers among the top 25 in scoring as all three went over 1,000 points for their careers … Myers finished his career with 1,499 points as he is ninth on the all-time scoring list, 25 points behind former All-American Nick Brady … Scamuffo concluded his career with 1,386 points as he is 12th on the all-time list … Reich ended his career with 1,143 points, good for 20th on the list … all three also appear in other career categories … Myers finished 12th in points per game (14.4 ppg), seventh in field goals made (560), 13th in field goals attempted (1,043), 11th in field goal percentage (.537), 10th in free throws made (301), 12th in free throws attempted (408), 13th in total rebounds (522), third in blocked shots (92), fourth in blocked shots per game (0.9), tied for 11th in games played (104), fourth in games started (96), and seventh in minutes played (3,085) … Scamuffo ranks 14th in field goal attempts (1038), third in three point field goals made (239), second in three point field goal attempts (671), 14th in three point field goal percentage (35.6%), 11th in free throws made (277), 13th in free throws attempted (384), tied for sixth in games played (106), third in games started (97), and ninth in minutes played (3020) … Reich ranks 15th in free throws attempted (352), eight in total rebounds (586), 11th in rebounds per game (5.7), fourth in blocked shots (81), sixth in blocked shots per game (0.8), and seventh in games started (90) … York lost for just the second time at home as they concluded the campaign 12-2 at Wolf Gymnasium … the Spartans lost for just the second time when leading at the half as they were 18-2 when leading at the break … The Continentals held York to just 38.8% shooting from the field including just 33.3% in the second half as York was held to 26 points in the stanza … the 26 points were their second lowest second half performance of the year with the lowest (23 points) coming in the loss at Mary Washington … York's eight assists were their lowest total of the season and it was just the second time they were under double digits in a game for the year … York's 19 field goals were their second lowest total of the year (18 @ Dickinson) … York went 0-for-8 from three in the second half after going 6-for-12 in the opening half … Hamilton got 16 points off the Spartans' 21 turnovers … York got 10 second chance points off their nine offensive rebounds … York's 12 rebound advantage (42-30) marked the sixth time this season that the Spartans had a double figure advantage on the glass … York was 5-0 in those previous games.