YORK, PA – The York College men's basketball team celebrated senior day with a huge MAC Commonwealth win over first-place Eastern University, 89-78, on Saturday in York.
The Spartans recognized their lone senior, guard Sean Kelly, prior to the contest.
York had a huge first half and then held the Eagles at bay to pull off the win.
York has now won two straight as they improve to 9-9 overall and 3-6 in the Commonwealth. Eastern falls to 13-5 overall and 6-3 in the league. The Eagles fall one game back of Alvernia as the Golden Wolves won on Saturday to move to 7-2 in the conference.
 
How It Happened
• The Spartans started off the game with an 11-4 run 3:02 into the game. The Spartan lead bounced between four and nine points before the Spartans embarked on a prolonged 15-1 run covering 4:41 of game time. That run pushed the Spartan lead to 19 with freshman Tate Landis scoring ten points on the run. Shawn Barclay hit a big three to push the lead to 20 before the Eagles got a Jaron Fairweather hoop to end the first half scoring.
• York shot 53.3% (16-for-30) in the first half while they held Eastern to just 28 first half points. Eastern shot just 37.9% (11-for-29) in the opening stanza. York made seven first half three pointers while they were 7-for-9 from the stripe.
• The Spartans maintained their lead in double figures and pushed it to a game-high 21 points on Barclay's lay-up that gave York a 55-34 lead with 16:07 left in the game. Eastern scored 11 of the next 16 points to cut the Spartan lead to 15. York pushed the lead back 19 on a Chris Miers lay-up with 9:18 left in the game. Eastern answered with an 11-3 run to slice the Spartan lead to 11 at 72-61. York scored ten of the next 16 points as the York lead was 15 with 3:55 left.
• The Eagles made a push late, outscoring York 11-7 over the final 3:13 of the game but the Green and White made enough plays to hold off the Eagles to post the 11-point win.
 
By the Numbers
York held Eastern to 28 first half points but the Eagles tallied 50 second half points as they shot 67.7% from the floor in the second 20 minutes of play … both teams shot exactly 53.3% from the floor for the game as they were both 32-for-60 from the field … York shot 13-for-28 (46.4%) from three while the Eagles were 6-for-15 (40%) …. York was great from the free throw line, making 12-of-15 (80%) while Eastern was just 8-for-17 (47.1%) … York dominated on the glass against the bigger Eagles … York had 15 offensive rebounds which led to a 21-6 bulge in second chance points … York led for 93.2% of the game … Eastern outscored York 42-36 in paint points for the game … Jaron Fairweather led all scorers with 22 points as he was 9-for-12 from the field including 2-for-4 from three and 2-for-3 from the stripe … Zubair Lee notched 16 points as he was 6-for-10 from the floor but just 4-for-10 from the line … Draig Cooley came off the bench and had 14 points for the Eagles … the Spartan win avenged a 76-59 Eastern victory on December 3.
 
Spartan Notes
The Spartans end their three-game losing streak to the Eagles as the all-time series is now even at three wins each … junior Chris Miers had another big game as he tallied 21 points, five rebounds, one assist, and four steals … the four steals ties a career-high for Miers … freshman Tate Landis set a new career high as he poured in 19 points including a perfect 6-for-6 from the line in the win … Landis added three assists and a rebound in his 19 minutes of play … Jackson Mascari just missed a triple double has he had 13 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists … Mascari was 5-for-6 from the floor including 3-of-4 from three … junior Shawn Barclay had a career day with 11 points, seven rebounds and a blocked shots in just eight minutes of play … Barclay's points and rebounds established a new Spartan career high for the forward … Jayden Rowe was the fifth Spartan in double figures with 10 points, five rebounds, two assists and a career-high three blocked shots … Kai Cipalla was limited to 23 minutes because of foul trouble put did notch eight points, six rebounds, three assists and a blocked shot in his 23 minutes of play … Cipalla threw down a pair of thunderous dunks late in the game to fuel the big crowd … the 89 points were a season high for the Green and White … the 53.3% accuracy mark was York's second best shooting effort of the year … York's plus-21 rebounding effort was their biggest margin of the year … York's five blocked shots tied a season-high (5 at Dickinson) … York has won seven of their last ten … York's 13 made three pointers tied a season high (vs. FDU-Florham) … five Spartans reached double figures for the second time this year with the first coming in the win over PSU Altoona ... Fifth year senior Sean Kelly played in his 85 career game with his 36th career start for the Spartans ... Kelly, the Spartans' lone senior was honored in the Senior Day pregame ceremony.
 
Up Next
The Spartans close out the home stand with a MAC Commonwealth contest against Messiah. The Falcons stole a 68-64 win in Grantham on November 30. Tip time at Charles Wolf Gymnasium is set for 6:00 pm.