YORK, Pa. – The Salisbury University men's basketball team nabbed its 10th victory of the season on Friday afternoon, needing the extra five minutes to overcome the York College Spartans on the first day of the Spartan Classic by a 77-75 final in overtime inside Charles Wolf Gymnasium.
The Spartans (4-3) opened their home tournament with a hot start, scoring nine of the opening 12 points at a 57 percent clip through the opening five minutes. The maroon and gold nabbed some momentum of their own with a 7-2 run led by five points from Jordan Oates to bring the game within one point with 12 minutes to go in the period, 11-10.
The Sea Gulls (10-3) and Spartans split the ensuing four minutes, 5-5, with an Aidan Camper three-ball helping maintain the one-point margin. York tallied back-to-back buckets to increase the lead to five, but Kedrick Frink and Brendan Davis joined forces to nullify the swing with just over five minutes left in the half, 20-19.
Frink scored five points in the half's final minutes to help Salisbury keep pace, but the Spartans stacked nine points against SU's seven to lead by a field goal at the break, 29-26.
Salisbury found its rhythm out of the intermission, opening the second half on a 10-5 run led by three points from Reed Rebstock and Davis to nab its first lead of the contest through nearly four minutes, 36-34. A Daniel Oyediran jumper sandwiched between a York twofer trip to the stripe and layup returned the contest to a deadlock, 38-38.
The Sea Gulls caught fire over the next five minutes, scoring 13 of 15 points including a 10-0 run led by six points from Oates to take their largest lead of the game with just over 10 minutes left, 51-40.
The weekend hosts punched back with a 10-1 run interrupted only by a technical free throw, yanking the contest between former Capital Athletic Conference (CAC) foes back in reach with just under eight minutes left, 52-50. Frink nabbed the reins with consecutive cuts to the basket, pushing the lead back to six at 56-50.
A York free throw would be the lone point scored across the next three minutes in a defensive-minded close to the contest. The Spartans found another from the stripe before a three-pointer capped a 5-0 run with three and a half minutes to go, 56-55.
Oates followed a successful trip to the stripe for Frink with a critical finish at the rack to grow a five-point cushion, but a pair of Sea Gull fouls gifted York four points from the line to cut the lead back to one with 97 seconds left, 60-59.
Tyler Ball carved out another key late-game bucket, dropping in a mid-range pull-up from the free-throw line through contact and finishing the three-point play. The Spartans rallied to find a basket from the corner through a Salisbury foul but could not convert the free throw, keeping the SU lead intact at 63-62.
Davis made a key late free throw to add a point to the lead, handing the ball back to the Spartans with a 64-62 score and 17.8 seconds on the clock. The hosts made good on their final opportunity, laying one in to force free basketball in the Classic's first contest.
The opponents traded blows on their first possessions of overtime, with York stacking two layups to Salisbury's finish plus one free throw, 68-67. A key defensive stand put the Sea Gulls back on the front foot, where a Spartan foul set up Camper to give the maroon and gold the lead from the line, 69-68.
The Sea Gull defense stood strong on the next trip down as well, with Frink being fouled after a rebound to add another pair from the stripe. SU forced another miss before a return trip to the line for Frink tacked on another for a four-point advantage with 78 seconds left, 72-68.
The Spartans cut the lead to two before Camper was fouled, leading to a pair of Rebstock technical free throws prior to Camper dropping in one from the line, 75-70. York added two from the line before full-court pressure forced chaos, resulting in a turnover and a potential Spartan three-point play, but the free throw attempt came up short to maintain the Sea Gull lead, 75-74.
Salisbury made free throws when they needed them late, hanging on to secure the wild 77-75 win on the tournament's first day.
GAME NOTES
- Kedrick Frink tallied a team-high 21 points and added seven rebounds in the victory.
- Jordan Oates picked up his 10th double-double of the season, moving him into a tie for the nation's lead in that category. Oates finished with 17 points and 17 rebounds, propelling himself to fourth in program history in offense rebounds (passing Kyle Jefferson '95 with 289) and 14th in program history in scoring (passing Greg Palmer '10 and Ron Pritchett '87 with 1,263).
- Reed Rebstock finished with 11 points highlighted by a perfect 9-of-9 day from the stripe.
- Brendan Davis dropped 10 points while adding four rebounds in the winning effort.
- The Sea Gulls shot 43.4 percent (23-of-53) from the floor, 25 percent (2-of-8) from beyond the arc, and 61.7 percent (29-of-47) from the charity stripe.
- Salisbury's 47 free throw attempts are the highest total for the program since at least the 2007-08 season. The teams combined to attempt 81 free throw attempts in the contest.
The Sea Gulls conclude their two-day stint in the Spartan Classic tomorrow, facing the Marywood University Pacers in York, Pa. before returning home after the holiday. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. from York, Pa.