ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The York College men's basketball team picked up a huge road victory as they downed Nazareth 72-68 in the championship game of the Mike Daley Memorial Tournament on Saturday in Rochester, N.Y.
The Spartans outscored Nazareth 43-35 in the second half to earn the key regional victory. York had three players named to the All-Tournament team as Jayden Rowe was the tournament MVP. He was joined on the all-tournament team by Jackson Mascari and Kai Cipalla.
York improves to 2-0 while Nazareth falls to 1-1.
 
How It Happened
• York got off to a great start as they took an 8-2 lead just under two minutes into the game. The Golden Eagles climbed back into the game and took an 18-16 lead on a Solomon McFarlane triple with 9:28 left in the first half. Nazareth pushed out to a eight point lead at 33-25 before the Spartans scored the final four points of the half.
• The second half saw Nazareth maintain their lead between two and six points before the Spartans tied the game at 45 on a Jayden Rowe three pointer with 13 minutes left in the game. Rowe hit another three a minute and a half later to take a three-point lead. Nick Schroeder hit a three of his own to push the Spartan lead to 51-45. The Golden Eagles cut the lead back to three before York went on an 7-2 spurt to push out to a 58-50 lead.
• Nazareth trimmed their deficit to two at 64-62 with 2:25 left. Rowe hit a lay up to push the lead back to four before Jaylen Savage hit two free throws with 1:49 remaining. Jackson Mascari converted a lay-up with 1:29 left to put York up 68-64. Savage hit a free throw and then converted a three-point play to tie the game at 68 with 25 seconds left. Mascari completed his big day with a go-ahead jumper with 10 seconds left. York got a stop and then Kai Cipalla hit a pair of free throws to close out the game.
 
By the Numbers
The Spartans finished the game shooting 38.5% from the floor and 35.5% (11-for-31) from three in addition to shooting 11-for-12 (91.7%) from the line … Nazareth shot 43.5% from the floor, 17.6 % (3-for-17) from three and 11-for-14 (78.6%) from the stripe … York finished the game with a 40-37 edge on the glass … the Spartans committed just ten turnovers in the game while Nazareth only had a mere eight … Nazareth outscored York 32-24 in the paint and 10-7 in second chance points.
 
Spartan Notes
The Spartans evened the all-time series at one win each with the victory … the teams last met on December 28, 2007 in the White Rose City Classic in York … sophomore Jayden Rowe earned the tournament MVP as he poured in a career-high 31 points as he was 11-for-20 from the floor including 7-for-13 from distance and 2-for-3 from the line … Rowe also had four assists, one block and one steal in 32 minutes … Jackson Mascari tallied his first double-double for the year with a career-high 22 points while he also had 11 rebounds … Kai Cipalla added 11 points, six rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots … the Spartans are averaging 10.5 made three pointers per game.
 
Up Next
The Spartans make their 2023-24 home debut on Wednesday evening as they welcome #12 Johns Hopkins University to Wolf Gymnasium for a key regional tilt. Tip time is set for 7:00 pm.