YORK, PA – The York College men's basketball team knocked off their second straight nationally ranked squad as the Spartans downed No. 15 Widener 84-64 in MAC Commonwealth action on Wednesday evening in York.
The win over the Pride comes on the heels of a Saturday victory over then-No. 21 Hood.
The Spartans shot a season-high 68.9% from the floor while they also converted a season-high 56.5% from three.
The Spartans improve to 11-7 and 4-3 in the MAC Commonwealth as they have won a season-high four straight. The Pride, who entered the game riding a conference-best five game winning streak, suffered just their third loss of the year as they are now 15-3 overall and 5-2 in the league.
 
How It Happened
• The Spartans got off to a blazing start against the #15 Pride. York ripped off a 14-4 start to the game as York was 5-for-6 from the floor including 4-for-5 from three. Tate Landis tallied six points on the run while Jayden Rowe and Kai Cipalla had three points each. The Pride cut the Spartan lead to six with a 9-5 run as Kevin Schenk led the way with four points as York led 19-13 with 13:01 left in the opening half.
• The Spartans then smacked the Pride with a 14-2 spurt that pushed the lead to 33-15 with 8:02 left. York went 6-for-6 from the floor and 2-for-2 from three during the run. Jackson Mascari led the run with eight points. The Pride went 1-for-6 from the floor while they had four turnovers during the Spartan run.
• The Pride got a quick five points from Dominic Dunn to cut the Spartan lead to 16. The Spartans answered by outscoring the Pride 15-10 over the final 6:43 to take a 51-30 lead to the break. The Spartans were scorching hot from the floor in the opening half as they shot 76% (19-for-25) from the floor and 64.7% (11-for-17) from three.
• The Spartans slowed the pace down in the second half but the defense continued to perform at a high level. The teams went back and forth in the frame as the Spartans pushed the lead to 24 on a Chris Miers three just over three minutes into the second half. The Pride cut the lead to 18 at 62-44 on a Dunn lay-up with 12:11 left but the Spartans put the final nail in the coffin with a 14-5 run over the next 5:23 to push out to a 27 point (76-49) lead with 6:48 left in the game. The Pride went on a quick 10-4 run to cut the lead to 21 but the Spartans finished off the game to earn the 20-point win.
 
By The Numbers
The Spartans finished the game shooting 68.9% (31-of-45) from the floor and drained 13-of-23 (56.6%) from three while they converted 64.3% (9-for-14) from the charity stripe … Widener finished the game shooting 44.3% from the floor including 23.5% (4-for-17) from three and 6-for-11 (54.5%) from the line … York held a 32-23 edge on the glass as both teams had four second chance points .. the Spartans were a little loose with the ball as they committed 19 turnovers to just 10 for the Pride … Widener scored 21 points off the Spartan miscues while York managed to turn the 10 Widener turnovers into 14 points … Widener's bench outscored York 25-3 but the Spartan starters had an 81-39 bulge in scoring … York dished out 16 assists on 31 field goals while Widener had seven on 27 made field goals … York led for 99.2% (39:41) of the game and never trailed.
 
Spartan Notes
York improves to 3-7 all-time against the Pride as the Spartans have won two straight in the series … the Spartan defense has made a dramatic improvement after the first three games of their MAC Commonwealth schedule as they were 0-3 … in those first three conference games, York allowed an average of 79.7 points per game … in their four conference wins, the Spartans have limited their opponents to just 59.2 points per game … those four games include two wins over Hood and Widener, the two highest scoring teams in the league … the Pride came into the game with the highest ranked offense in the league and the second best defensive scoring average … Widener was held to 20 points below their season scoring average as the loss was their second 20 plus point setback of the year … the 64 points was the Pride's second lowest offensive output of the season (63 vs. Hampden-Sydney) … the 51 first half Spartan points tied their second half output against Delaware Valley as their second highest scoring half of the year … they scored 52 in the first half against Penn State Altoona as their highest scoring half of the year … York is 27-for-62 (43.5%) from three in their last two games ... all five Spartan starters finished the game in double figures led by senior Chris Miers as he tied his career-high with 23 points ... Miers was 9-for-12 from the floor, 3-for-6 from three and 2-for-2 from the line … Miers grabbed seven boards, dished out three assists and also had a blocked shot … Kai Cipalla, the Commonwealth's leading scorer, added 21 points as he was 6-for-7 from the floor including 2-for-2 from three and 7-for-8 from the line … Cipalla pulled in three rebounds, had two assists and blocked two more shots … Tate Landis had another fantastic night as he tallied 13 points as he was 5-for-5 from the floor including 3-for-3 from distance … Landis had four assists, two rebounds and had all five of York's steals in the game … Jackson Mascari returned to the lineup after missing the last two games and tallied 12 points and seven rebounds … Mascari was 5-for-5 from the floor and 2-for-2 from three … Jayden Rowe, the current MAC Commonwealth Player of the Week, added 12 points, three assists, three rebounds, and a blocked shot.
 
Up Next
The Spartans conclude their three-game home stand with another MAC Commonwealth showdown as Eastern invades Wolf Gym on Saturday. The Eagles handed the Spartans their biggest Commonwealth loss this year as they downed York 85-69 on January 6 in St. David's. Tip time is set for 3:00 pm.