YORK, PA – The York College men's basketball team got another outstanding defensive effort as they downed Eastern University 68-58 in MAC Commonwealth action on Saturday in York.
The Spartans outscored the Eagles by ten in the second half to pull away for the important win.
York has won five straight and improve to 12-7 overall and 5-3 in the league. The Eagles fall to 13-6 overall and 5-3 in conference play.
 
How It Happened
• The game began at a frenetic pace as the teams were tied at eight less than five minutes into the game. The scoring pace slowed over the next few minutes as there were just a combined nine points scored over the next five minutes of play as Eastern held a slight 13-12 lead. With Eastern up 15-14, the Eagles went on a 6-1 run to push out to a 21-15 lead with six minutes left in the half. The Spartans finished the half with a 13-7 run including scoring the final six points of the half as the game was tied at 28 at break.
• The Spartans got off to a great start out of the break as they hit the Eagles with a 10-3 run to take a 38-31 lead. York was 4-for-4 from the floor including 2-for-2 from three. Jayden Rowe and Kai Cipalla powered the run with five points each. After an Arkese Claiborne bucket, the Spartans went on an 8-2 spurt to take a 46-35 lead with 13:57 left in the game.
• The Eagles responded with a big 12-4 run over 6:13 as the Spartan lead was sliced to 50-47 with 7:44 left in the game. York scored six of the game's next eight points to push the lead back to seven at 56-49. The teams traded points over the next three minutes as the Spartan lead remained seven with 59 seconds left. Senior Chris Miers was outstanding from the line in the final 33 seconds of play as he converted all six of his free throws to salt away the win.
 
By the Numbers
The Spartans shot 50% from the floor for the game including 20% (3-for-15) from three while they shot 81% (13-for-16) from the line … Eastern shot 41.5% in the contest including 25% (3-for-12) from three and 73.3% (11-for-15) from the stripe … the Eagles out-rebounded York 34-27 including 11-5 in offensive rebounds … Eastern had a 9-4 edge in second chance points … York forced 16 Eastern turnovers which they turned into 19 points while York's nine turnovers only resulted in two Eagle points … there were just six total bench points in the game … York finished the game with a 42-34 margin in paint points … Eastern's largest lead was six points (28-22 in the first half) while York's biggest lead was 11 (46-35) … York held the lead for 20:32 of game time (51.3% of the game).
 
Spartan Notes
The Spartans split the season series with the Eagles as York is now 4-5 all-time against the Eagles … York is now 7-5 at home as they have won three straight … York has won four of their last five games by double figures … York has shot 58.8% (57-of-97) from the floor in their last two games while their two opponents are shooting .42.9% (49-of-114) from the field … York's defense continues to be outstanding during their win streak as they are allowing just 59 points per game over their last five games … the Spartans made a season-low three triples in the game as their 15 attempts were also a season low … York held Eastern to just three three-pointers and that's the 12^th time this year they have limited an opponent to five or less in a game … Eastern came into the game averaging a conference-best 82.9 points per game but York held them to a season low in points … Kai Cipalla had another big game as the junior notched 23 points on 11-of-16 shooting … senior Chris Miers capped a big week as he tallied 20 points on the best shooting day of his career … Miers was 6-for-8 from the floor and 8-for-9 from the free throw line … Miers also had six rebounds and one assist in the victory … sophomore Tate Landis had another great outing as he tallied 12 points to go along with a career-high eight rebounds in the victory … Jayden Rowe added nine points, four assists and three rebounds to the Spartan effort.
 
Up Next
The Spartans head out on the road for their next two games starting with a trip to Owings Mills, MD to take on the Stevenson University Mustangs in a MAC Commonwealth contest on Wednesday. Tip time is set for 7:00 pm.