FREDERICKSBURG, VA – The York College men's basketball team dropped a 67-45 Capital Athletic Conference decision at the University of Mary Washington on Monday evening in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The game was originally scheduled to be played on January 23 but Winter Storm Jonas forced the postponement to tonight.

The Eagles are now 6-6 in the conference as they are tied for third place in the league, two games back of second place Salisbury. Mary Washington now stands at 10-9 overall. York had its two game win streak snapped as they are now 9-10 overall and 5-7 in the league.

The Eagles got off to a good start as they led 7-2 just under four minutes into the game. York trimmed the Mary Washington lead to 12-10 just under midway through the half. Mary Washington then ripped off an 11-0 run to push the lead to 23-10 with 8:22 remaining in the stanza. The Eagles would push the lead to 30-13 before Chris Conway (Luthersville, Md./Dulaney) hit a lay up to cut the Eagle lead to 30-15 at the break.

York trimmed their deficit to 11 at 32-21 early in the second half but Mary Washington put together another run, this time an 11-2 spurt to push the lead to 43-23 with 14:24 left in regulation. York clawed back to within 13 at 51-38 with 6:54 remaining but that would be as close as they would get. Mary Washington scored 10 of the final 12 points of the game to provide for their final 22-point margin of victory.

The Eagles placed four players in double figures led by TJ Jones as the CAC's leading scorer tallied 17 points, pulled in four rebounds, dished out three assists and had three steals in 35 minutes of action. Jones was 7-for-13 from the floor and 3-for-5 from the free throw line. John Lutkenhaus recorded his second straight double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds for UMW. Eric Shaw tallied 13 points while Mark Madison chipped in with 11 points.

Sophomore Blayde Reich (Lebanon, Pa./Lebanon) led York with a career-high 19 points as he was 7-for-10 from the floor including 2-for-3 from three and 3-for-4 from the stripe. Freshly minted CAC Player of the Week Dalton Myers (Finksburg, Md./Westminster) added 14 points as he was 6-for-8 from the field and 2-for-2 from the line with four rebounds. Reich and Myers accounted for 33 of the Spartans 45 points. Myers and Reich combined to go 13-for-18 from the floor while the rest of the squad combined to shoot 4-for-25 (16%).

The Spartans finished the game shooting 39.5% from the floor and 4-for-12 (33.3%) from three. The Spartans only went to the line eight times and they converted seven of those opportunities (87.5%).

The Eagles shot 46.6% from the floor, 5-for-10 (50%) from three and 10-for-15 (66.7%) from the stripe.

Mary Washington held a 30-26 edge on the glass including a 10-4 margin in offensive rebounds. The Eagles held a 16-4 advantage in second chance points. Turnovers really hurt York in the game as they had 21 turnovers which led to 17 UMW points. The Eagles had just 10 miscues in the contest.

The game was the middle contest in the five games in 10 days stretch that the Spartans are in the midst of. York is currently 2-1 on the stretch and they will look to get back on track on Wednesday when they head to Dover, Delaware to face Wesley College in a key conference contest. Tip time from Wentworth Gymnasium is set for 8:00 pm.  

Blayde Reich photo courtesy of David Sinclair