FREDERICK, MD – The York College men's basketball team saw their 2023-24 season come to a close with a 72-59 loss at Hood College on Saturday in Frederick, Maryland.
The Spartans needed a win and some help to qualify for the four-team MAC Commonwealth tournament but the loss dashed those hopes on Saturday.
York finishes the campaign 14-11 and 7-7 in the league. Hood, the two seed in the upcoming tournament, improve to 19-5 overall and 11-3 in the conference.
 
How It Happened
• The Spartans struggled to get on the board early as Hood raced out to a 6-0 lead. The Spartans finally broke the seal on the hoop with a Shawn Barclay lay up at the 15:31 mark. Barclay's bucket kick started a 14-2 Spartan run as York led 14-8 with 10:49 left in the half.
• The Blazers responded with a 15-3 run of their own as they led by six with 7:02 left in the stanza. York scored ten of the next 17 points to slice their deficit to three at 30-27 with under a minute remaining. The Blazers got a three-point play from Garrison Linton to end the half as the Blazers took a 33-27 lead to the break.
• York opened the second half with a 9-5 spurt to trim their deficit to two at 38-36. The Blazers then fashioned a prolonged 20-8 run covering 7:34 of game time, pushing their lead to 58-44 with exactly nine minutes left in the game. Trumaine Strickland led the charge with six points while Justin Gielen and Jack Fricka each had five during the run. The Spartans made one final charge with a 10-2 burst that cut the Blazer lead to 60-54 with 5:58 remaining in the game. That would be as close as York got the rest of the way as the Blazers finished the game scoring 12 of the final 17 points of the game to provide for their 13-point win.
 
By The Numbers
York finished the game shooting 39% from the floor including 22.9% (8-for-35) from three and a chilly 5-for-13 (38.5%) from the stripe … Hood converted 43.1% of their shots from the floor including 7-of-23 (30.4%) from distance and 15-of-22 (68.2%) from the line … York out-rebounded the Blazers 39-38 but Hood had a 17-13 edge in second chance points … there were four lead changes and zero ties in the game … York had 13 assists in the game … the Spartans turned the ball over 16 times which led to 20 Blazer points … Hood held a 15-9 edge in fast break points.
 
Spartan Notes
The Spartans split the season series with the Blazers and lead the all-time series 11-8 … the Spartans ended the regular season dropping four of their last five games … York finished with a record of 6-5 away from Wolf Gymnasium … York made a season-low five free throws as their 38.5% accuracy mark from the line was a season-low … York won the battle on the glass for the 16^th time this year … York blocked 14 shots over their last three games … York had 37 turnovers in their last two games leading to 49 opponent points in those two games … junior Kai Cipalla had another big game as the forward poured in 22 points and pulled in nine rebounds in 37 minutes of action … Cipalla also had three steals, a blocked shot and an assist in the game … Cipalla enters his senior year needing 164 points to reach 1,000 for his Spartan career … Pat Gilhool tied his career-high with 12 points off the bench in 21 minutes of action … Gilhool was 4-for-10 from distance while he also had six rebounds, an assist and a steal … Chris Miers was the third Spartan in double figures with 10 points … the game was the final in the careers of Johnny Kennevan and Shawn Barclay while fellow senior Chris Miers has the potential of coming back to the squad for another year of eligibility.
 
Up Next
The loss concludes the season for the Spartans. York returns to action in early November when they kick off the 2024-25.