YORK, PA – The Christopher Newport men's basketball team had their way with the York College Spartans on January 3 in Newport News, Virginia. The rematch in York on Saturday was a much different story as the Captains survived a Spartan upset bid, 63-55, in Capital Athletic Conference action in York.

The Captains improve to 14-5 overall and 9-3 in the conference. The Spartans fall to 4-15 overall and 3-9 in the league.

The first half was loaded with back-and-forth basketball. The stanza featured six ties and 10 lead changes as neither team could gain any significant traction. The Spartans' largest lead was four while the Captains' biggest first half margin was just one point. York took a 28-27 advantage to the locker room.

The Captains won the game in the opening five minutes of the second half as they opened the stanza with a 13-4 run. After a three pointer by York's Brad Wesner (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Trinity) cut the lead to five, the Captains scored eight straight points to push the lead to 13 with 11:43 remaining in the game.

York continued to battle and trimmed the Captain lead to five thanks to an 8-0 run with 4:21 left in the game. The Captains pushed the lead back to ten with 53 seconds left in regulation and that would prove to be too much for the Spartans to overcome.

Aaron McFarland and Brendon Burrows led the Captains with 11 points each. McFarland added six rebounds and four assists while Burrows added six rebounds in his 18 minutes of work.

Tyler Alcid (Mt. Airy, Md./South Carroll) led the Spartans with a game-high 12 points in his 25 minutes of action. Alcid was 4-for-10 from the floor and 4-for-5 from the free throw line. Wesner added 11 points off the bench for York. Freshman Max Bell (Finksburg, Md./Francis Scott Key) played well for York as he led the Spartans on the glass with a game-high 10 rebounds while he also had nine points. Bell was 1-for-1 from the floor and 7-for-10 from the line.

CNU made 21 field goals in the win with 10 coming from distance. The Captains shot 38.9% from the floor while they converted 32.3% from three. CNU went 11-for-17 (64.7%) from the free throw line.

York shot 46.2% from the floor but attempted 15 less shots than the Captains. York was 3-for-16 (18.8%) from three while they went 16-for-21 (76.2%) from the free throw line.

The Captains hurt the Spartans on the glass as they held a 34-27 margin in rebounding. More importantly, the Captains notched 16 offensive rebounds, which led to 16 second chance points.

After turning the ball over a season-high 30 times on Wednesday night, the Spartans sliced that number to just 13 as they did a much better job of taking care of the rock.

The Spartans return to action on Wednesday night when they begin a two game road trip at Wesley. Tip time from Dover, Delaware is set for 8:00 pm.

Tyler Alcid photo courtesy of Joe Rodgers