YORK, PA – The York College men's basketball team overcame a 14-point second half deficit to earn a 79-73 Capital Athletic Conference win over the University of Mary Washington on Saturday afternoon in York. The win was York's fourth straight as they remain one game behind league-leading Christopher Newport in the CAC standings.  

Records

York (Pa.): 14-5 (3-1 CAC)

Mary Washington: 11-8 (1-3 CAC)

Team Stats

Score: York 79, Mary Washington 73

FG: York 26-for-65 (40.0%) UMW 22-for-56 (39.3%)

3PT FG: York 12-for-31 (38.%), UMW 13-for-31 (41.9%)

FT: York 15-for-22 (68.2%), UMW 16-for-21 (76.2%)

Rebounds: York 43, UMW 36

Assists: York 15, UMW 10

Turnovers: York 15, UMW 20

Blocked Shots: York 1, UMW 7

Steals: York 8, UMW 5

How It Happened:

• The Eagles opened the scoring with a pair of buckets but the Spartans responded with a 9-2 run to take a 9-6 lead less than three minutes into the game. The Eagles came back to take a 13-12 lead on a pair of Trey Barber free throws. Sophomore Riley Dobraniecki gave the Spartans their last lead of the half with a pair of free throws at the 13 minute mark. The Eagles answered with a 12-3 run as they took a 25-17 lead on a Drew Johnson layup.

• The Spartans trimmed the lead to three on a Logan Collins three but UMW eventually built the lead back to eight late in the half as they went to the intermission with a 37-29 lead. York shot just 33.3% from the floor in the opening half and committed an uncharacteristic 10 turnovers.

• After Jared Wagner opened the second half with a layup to cut the Spartan deficit to six, Barber hit a jumper followed by back-to-back three pointers from Da'Shawn Cook as the Eagle lead quickly ballooned to a game-high 14 points as the Spartans were on the brink of getting blown out in their own building. Senior Darin Gordon slowed the Eagle roll with a three pointer but UMW's Greg Rowson answered with a three of his own as the lead was 14 with 16:39 left in the game.

• York started slowly chipping away at the Eagle lead. Junior David Giuliani fueled a mini-spurt for York as he was the catalyst on a 9-3 Spartan run that cut the Eagles' lead to six at 51-45. The Eagles pushed the lead back to eight on a pair of Drew Johnson free throws with 12:10 left in the game. Gordon then hit a huge pair of threes as York whittled the lead down to two. The Spartans finally completed the comeback with six straight points, knotting the game at 61 with 8:01 left in the game.

• Gordon split a pair of free throws a little over a minute later to put York up one. Freshman Logan Collins then drilled a three from the top of the key to push the lead to four. Four straight free throws from Cook tied the game at 65 with just over five minutes remaining. Senior Joe Polczynski hit a go-ahead three pointer on York's next possession. The Spartans forced a UMW turnover on their next possession and then got two offensive rebounds and a Polczynski bucket on their next trip to go up five with 4:36 left in the game.

• The Eagles got a pair of Johnson free throws to cut the York lead to three and Wagner was fouled on the ensuing possession and the senior split the pair to put York up four. A pair of York stops sandwiched a Spartan turnover as the lead remained four. York got another stop as did the Eagles as they had the ball down four with 1:19 left. An Anias Saunders turnover gave York the ball as Wagner picked his pocket and cruised in for the dunk to put York up 73-67, sending the boisterous Wolf Gymnasium crowd into a frenzy. Rowson hit a three on the next possession and the Eagles fouled Gordon. The senior split the pair as York led 74-70 with 36 ticks left. Rowson missed a contested three and Polczynski came down with the rebound and was fouled. He sank both free throws to ice the game. The Spartans hit three of four free throws over the final nine seconds of the game between a Trey Barbers three for the final 79-73 margin of victory.

Spartan Leaders:

Darin Gordon: 19 point, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steals, 5-for-9 3PT FG

David Giuliani: 14 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist

Joe Polczynski: 14 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists

Jared Wagner: 12 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals, 1 blocked shot

Eagle Leaders:

Trey Barber: 18 points, 10 rebounds, 5 blocked shots, 1 steal

Da'Shawn Cook: 15 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist

Greg Rowson: 15 points, 2 rebounds, 1 blocked shot, 1 steal

Anias Saunders: 9 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 blocked shot, 3-for-5 3PT FG

Notes:

The Spartans improve to 41-35 all-time against the Eagles as they have won three straight in the series … York has won seven in a row at Charles Wolf Gymnasium against the Eagles …. York is now 7-1 at Wolf Gymnasium with their lone loss coming to nationally ranked Albertus Magnus on January 4 … the Spartans scored 20 points off 12 Mary Washington turnovers in the second half … York shot 45.7% from the floor in the second half including 6-of-14 (42.9%) from three … Mary Washington attempted 13 less shots in the second half because York forced 12 turnovers … the Spartans dominated on the glass in the second half, out-rebounding the Eagles 23-14 in the second 20 minutes … York had just five second half turnovers after 10 in the first half … the Spartans won despite shooting under 42% for the game and that's the first time they have won a game while shooting under 42% in a game … York has now made double figures in threes in their last three games … York is now 14-1 when scoring 75 points or more a game … senior Darin Gordon recorded a career-high 19 points in the win while his five three-pointers made were also a career-high … 13 of Gordon's 19 points came in the second half … junior David Giuliani tallied 13 of his 14 points in the second half … Giuliani was 5-for-8 from the floor with six rebounds in 15 minutes of play … senior Joe Polczynski tallied his third straight game in double figures with his 14 points … Polczynski has reached double figures in five of his last eight games … Polczynski pulled in five of his seven rebounds down in the second half … senior Jared Wagner led the Spartans in rebounding for the seventh time this year … the win was the second on the current four-game homestand … the four straight games at Wolf Gymnasium are a season high for the Spartans … York will play four of their final six games in the regular season at home.

Up Next

The Spartans continue their homestand with a Capital Athletic Conference game against Salisbury University on Wednesday evening. The Spartans and Sea Gulls tip off at 7:00 pm.