YORK, PA – The York College men's basketball squad opened the 2019 Capital Athletic Conference tournament with one of their best defensive efforts of the year as the Spartans rolled past St. Mary's 76-47 on Tuesday night in York. The Spartans advance to face third seeded Mary Washington in Thursday night's tournament semifinals. The Spartans have now won a season-high nine straight.

Game #26 – CAC Quarterfinals

Final Score: York (Pa.) 76, St. Mary's (Md.) 47

Records: York 20-6, SMC 10-16

Field Goals: York 29-of-66, SMC 16-for-50

Field Goal %: York 43.9%, SMC 32.0%

Three Point FG: York 8-for-33, SMC 4-for-16

Three Point FG %: York 24.2%, SMC 25%

Free Throws: York 10-for-11, SMC 11-for-17

Free Throw %: York 90.9%, SMC 64.7%

Rebounds: York 42, SMC 32

Assists: York 18, SMC 4

Turnovers: York 11, SMC 19

Blocked Shots: York 5, SMC 2

Steals: York 10, SMC 7

How It Happened

• The Spartans got off to a slow start offensively, the complete opposite of their start in the regular season finale against Mary Washington. It took the Spartans three minutes to get on the board but fortunately for the Green and White, the defense was locked in from the start. After falling behind 4-0, York went on an extended 15-4 run to give the Spartans a seven-point lead at the 12-minute mark.

• Justin Milstead hit a lay-up to trim York's lead to five but York scored 14 of the next 20 points to take a 29-16 lead. The lead grew to 14 with just over a minute left before the Seahawks got the final bucket of the half as York led 35-23 heading to the break.

• St. Mary's got a Reggie Rouse lay-up to start the second half but York answered with an 18-5 run that pushed their lead to 23 points with over 12 minutes remaining in the game. St. Mary's cut the lead to 19 but York scored the next ten points of the game to remove all doubt. The Spartan lead grew to as many as 30 before the Spartans settled for the 29 point victory.

Spartan Leaders

Jason Bady: 25 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 6 steals, 1 blocked shot

Joey Polczynski: 14 points, 3 rebounds, 4-for-7 3PT FG

Zach Novick: 14 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist

Darin Gordon: 9 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist

Mike Frauenheim: 6 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 steal

Seahawk Leaders

Justin Milstead: 16 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals, 1 blocked shot

Reggie Rouse: 8 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals

Spencer Schultz: 5 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist

Darick Kerns: 2 points, 7 rebounds

Game Notes:

The Spartans swept the season season from the Seahawks as York went 3-0 … York leads the all-time series against the Seahawks 47-24 as they have won seven straight in the series … York is now 12-1 at Wolf Gymnasium this year and 24-3 at home in the last two years … York is now 4-1 all-time against St. Mary's in the CAC Tournament … York is now 25-21 all-time in the CAC Tournament … York is now 14-10 all-time in  the opening round of the tournament … the 47 points allowed were the lowest total of the year for a Spartan opponent … the 16 made field goals for the Seahawks were a season low for a York opponent … the 29 point win is York's second biggest of the year (30 point win vs. Southern Virginia on January 5) … York has won 14 of their last 15 games … the Spartans won the battle on the glass for the first time in eight games … York has now won 12 of their 20 games by double figures … York has blocked five shots in back-to-back games … York recorded ten steals and that's the 11^th game with double figures in steals … senior Jason Bady set a new career-high with six steals in the win … Bady now has 1,064 career points as he moves up to 23^rd on the all-time scoring list, passing Bob Klingseisen (1970-73) who had 1,060 points … Bady is 18 points away from passing Jason Saurbaugh for 22^nd on the all-time scoring list … sophomore David Giuliani set a new career high with six rebounds in just 12 minutes of action on Tuesday … freshman Ryan Wheatley sank four free throws at the end of the game and those were his first four collegiate free throw attempts.

Up Next:

The will host third seeded Mary Washington in the tournament semifinals on Thursday evening in Charles Wolf Gymnasium. Tip time is set for 7:00 pm. The winner advances to the Capital Athletic Conference championship game on Saturday at the highest remaining seed.