YORK, PA – The York College men's basketball team ran into a red-hot St. Mary's College squad on Wednesday night in Wolf Gymnasium. The Seahawks left York with their eighth straight win courtesy of a 78-55 victory.

St. Mary's remains all alone in first place in the Capital Athletic Conference as they improve to 16-4 overall and 13-2 in the league. The Spartans fall to 4-18 overall and 3-12 in the conference.

The final score of the game proved to be quite deceptive as the Spartans played the Seahawks tough. The first half was very low scoring as both teams used large chunks of the shot clock and defense proved to be the name of the game in the opening stanza. The Spartans got in foul trouble early as four of the five Spartan starters would pick up two quick fouls in the half. Those four starters played a combined 21 minutes while the other starter, forward Dalton Myers (Finksburg, Md./Westminster), played all 20 minutes of the stanza.

The Green and White went on a 12-3 run midway through the opening half to take a 19-11 lead with 6:32 left in the half. The Seahawks used a quick 7-0 spurt to trim the York lead to one. The Spartans pushed the lead back to six on a pair of Myers' free throws with 54 seconds left. The Seahawks got a pair of Garrett Snoops' free throws followed by a fast break lay up from Snoops to cut their halftime deficit to 29-27.

The second half went south for the Spartans quickly as they were whistled for seven fouls in the first 3:39 of the half, putting the Seahawks in the bonus very early in the stanza. St. Mary's would take advantage as they opened the half with a 19-5 run to push out to a 46-34 lead with 14:33 left in the game.

After a Myers' bucket, the Seahawks went on a 15-2 run to put the game away as they built the lead into the 20's.

The Capital Athletic Conference's leading scorer and likely Player of the Year Nick LaGuerre led the Seahawks as he poured in a game-high 21 points to go along with five rebounds and an assist. LaGuerre was 7-for-13 from the floor, 3-for-6 from three and an uncharacteristic 4-for-8 from the free throw line. Tanner Brooks added 14 points, as he was 3-for-4 from the floor including 2-for-3 from distance. He drilled all six of his free throw attempts in the win. Brooks also had five assists, four rebounds, and a steal in his 35 minutes of work. Troy Spurrier was the third Seahawk in double figures with 13 points. Delaszo Smith was the fourth St. Mary's player to reach double digits as he had 11 points in 16 minutes of play.

St. Mary's finished the game shooting 52.3% from the floor including a blistering 72.7% (16-for-22) in the second half. The Seahawks went 26-for-37 (70.3%) from the free throw line as they converted more free throws (26) than field goals (23). The 37 free throw attempts were the most against the Spartans this year by nine and the 23 makes were also the highest number for a York opponent this year.

Myers led the Spartans as the sophomore had 12 points, six rebounds, two blocked shots and an assist in 35 minutes of work. He was the only York starter to play more than 17 minutes in the game as foul trouble plagued the Green and White all night long. Evan Crosby (Honeoye Falls, N.Y./McQuaid Jesuit) was the other Spartan in double figures with 11 points. Freshman Blayde Reich (Lebanon, Pa./Lebanon) came off the bench and provided the Spartans with a strong effort as he notched seven points and seven rebounds in his 24 minutes of work. Freshman Max Bell (Finksburg, Md./Francis Scott Key) was fantastic in just 16 minutes of play before fouling out. Bell notched nine points and seven rebounds, as he was 4-for-4 from the floor and 1-for-2 from the line.

The Spartans finished the game shooting 36% from the floor and 20% (3-for-15) from three. The Green and White went 16-for-25 (64%) from the free throw line.

York held a 36-30 edge on the glass and also held an 11-6 margin in second chance points.

York was whistled for a season-high 30 fouls as Bell fouled out while four other Spartans had four fouls in the game. The foul total was seven more than York had in any previous game this year.

The Spartans head to the road for their final road trip of the year on Saturday when they head to Southern Virginia to face the Knights in a Capital Athletic Conference contest. Game time in Buena Vista, Virginia is set for 3:00 pm.

Max Bell photo courtesy of Lauren Kronthal