YORK, PA – The York College men's basketball team picked up their biggest win of the year as they downed #21 Hood College 69-62 in MAC Commonwealth action on Saturday afternoon in York.
The Blazers entered the game on an eight-game win streak as they suffered their first conference loss of the year.
The Spartans, winners of three straight, improve to 10-7 overall and 3-3 in the Commonwealth. Hood falls to 13-3 overall and 5-1 in the league.
 
How It Happened
• The game got off to a rocky start for both squad as the game was scoreless until York's Jayden Rowe hit a three 2:40 into the game. The Blazer offense got into gear as they scored the next nine points to take a 9-3 lead with 13:56 left in the first half. York used an 8-2 run over the next 2:02 to tie the game at 11. Hood answered with an 8-0 run to take a 19-11 lead as it looked like they were poised to take control of the game.
• The Spartans answered with a 13-5 run to tie the game at 24 with 5:48 left. Hood's Ryan Hollwedel hit a pair of free throws to give the Blazers' their final lead of the day because what happened next, was an unbelievable display of shooting by the Spartans' Rowe. The sophomore point guard drained a three pointer at the 3:54 mark. That began a 14-2 run to end the half for the Spartans a 38-28 lead at the break. The remarkable part about the run was that Rowe scored all 14 points as he was 4-for-5 from three while he also made a pair of free throws on the run. Rowe finished the first half with 22 points as the Spartans took the ten-point lead to the break.
• The Spartans maintained their lead in the early stages of the second half until the Blazers went on an 11-0 run to tie the game at 44 with 11:59 remaining in the game. Garrison Linton, Soren Almquist and Trumaine Strickland all scored three points for the Blazers during the run.
• York responded in a big way as sophomore Pat Gilhool drilled a pair of clutch three-pointers in back-to-back possession to put York back up by six at 50-44 with 9:03 left in the game. Hollwedel hit a three on the Blazers next possession but Chris Miers hit a tough lay-up followed by a Kai Cipalla three from the top of the key as the York lead was seven. Hood trimmed the deficit to six twice over the next three minutes but Tate Landis hit a huge off-balanced three from the corner as the shot clock was expiring to put York back up nine with 4:56 remaining.
• Hood was far from being done as they fashioned a 7-0 run, trimming York's lead to just three at 61-58 with 2:09 left. Miers drilled a huge three with 1:41 left to push the lead back to six. The teams traded two free throws each as York led 66-60 with Cipalla stepping to the line with 20 seconds left. The junior forward made one to make it a seven-point lead. After York got a stop, Rowe capped a big day with two free throws to push the lead to nine with seven seconds left. The Blazers got a Linton bucket with three seconds left but York closed out the game for the seven-point victory.
 
By the Numbers
The Spartans finished the game shooting 36.1% from the floor, 35.9% (14-for-39) from three and 68.6% (11-for-16) from the free throw line … the Blazers finished the game shooting 33.9% from the field, 24.1% (7-for-29) from three and 17-for-22 (77.3%) from the free throw line … Hood had a 43-39 edge on the glass as they entered the game with the top rebounding margin in the MAC Commonwealth … Hood had 12 offensive rebounds which they turned into 15 points … York forced 18 Blazer turnovers which they turned into eight points … York had 11 miscues in the game … York had a 14-10 advantage in assists … Hood had a 22-16 advantage in paint points … there were two lead changes and five ties during the game … York led 57.3% of the game as they were up for 22:54 of the contest … York's largest lead was 11 while Hood's biggest advantage was eight (19-11) … Hood held an 8-0 margin in fast break points.
 
Spartan Notes
The Spartans improve to 11-7 all-time against the Blazers after the teams split their games last year … the Spartans held the Blazers to just 33.9% shooting for the game, their second-lowest shooting percentage of the year … Hood has won the rebounding battle in all but three games the year … the Spartans' 14 three-point field goals matches a season high that they set on December 20 at PSU Altoona … it's the second time in eight games that they have reached 14 three pointers in a game, a mark that had not been reached previously in 59 games … for the tenth time this year, the Spartans attempted more field goals than their opponents … York is 6-4 when attempting more field goals in a game … York placed four players in double figures powered by Jayden Rowe as the sophomore guard scored a game-high 24 points to go along with nine rebounds, an assist and a blocked shot … Rowe was 7-for-17 from the floor including 6-for-14 from three and a perfect 4-for-4 from the line … the nine rebounds for Rowe was a season-high … Tate Landis added 15 points, five rebounds, three assists and a steal in his 34 minutes of work … Landis was 3-for-9 from three while the five rebounds were a season-high for the sophomore … Kai Cipalla was held to 10 points, his second lowest total of the year, but he again did the job on the boards with eight caroms while he also had four assists … Chris Miers was the fourth Spartan in double figures with 10 points as he also had five rebounds and two steals in his 28 minutes of play ... Pat Gilhool pulled in a career-high nine rebounds to go along with his two huge threes in the second half. 
 
Up Next
The Spartans will face their second-straight nationally ranked opponent as #17 Widener University comes to Wolf Gym to face the Spartans on Wednesday night. Tip time is set for 7:00 pm as the Spartans will close out their first trip through the MAC Commonwealth.