BETHLEHEM, PA – The York College men's basketball team ran their win streak to a season-high four as they downed host Moravian 79-50 in the championship game of the Steel Club Classic in Bethlehem, PA on Saturday. The tournament championship is the Spartans' first in-season tournament championship since December 30, 2017 when they won the Washington & Lee Holiday Tournament championship.
Freshman Jayden Rowe was named the Tournament MVP while Jackson Mascari also earned All-Tournament team honors.
The Spartans improve to 6-6 overall while the Greyhounds fall to 3-9.
 
How It Happened
• The Spartans got off to a slow start in the game. York missed seven of their first eight shots as they trailed the Greyhounds early. Moravian hit the Spartans with a 5-0 run to take a 10-4 lead with 14:40 left in the opening half. York responded with five straight points of their own as they trimmed the lead to 10-9.
• After a lengthy delay to determine a clock issue, the two teams started trading baskets for a two minute stretch. Tate Landis started the run with driving lay-up to put York up 11-10. Alex Dietz hit a three for the Greyhounds to put the hosts back up. Pat Gilhool answered with a jumper to tie the game at 13. Danny Cooper hit a jumper to give Moravian at 15-13 lead midway through the half. York tied the game at 15 on Sean Kelly lay-up at the 9:30 mark. The teams would go scoreless over the next two and a half minutes. Moravian's Uma Kalu hit a three but the Spartans' Jayden Rowe answered with a three of his own as the game was tied at 18.
• Moravian got a Mark Howell three to take a 21-18 lead but the Spartans answered with a 13-3 run as Rowe went off with nine points during the spurt with two threes and a three-point play. York was 5-for-5 from the floor as the Spartan lead grew to 31-24 with 2:15 left in the opening half.
• Late in the half, the teams traded baskets before Rowe capped a huge opening half with his fourth three of the half, giving York a 36-26 lead at the intermission. Rowe scored all 15 of his first half points in the final 6:36 as York outscored Moravian 21-8 in the final seven minutes of the half.
• The teams began the first four minutes of the second half going back and forth with the Spartans maintaining their lead. The Green and White then put together a 13-2 run that covered almost four minutes as the lead grew to 56-36 with 12:37 left in the game. That run pretty much sealed the game for the Spartans continued to pull away from Moravian. The 29-point final margin of victory was their largest lead of the game.
 
By the Numbers
The Spartans finished the game shooting 55.2% (32-for-58) from the field while they went 10-for-23 (43.5%) from distance … the one sore spot for the Spartans was their 5-for-13 performance from the free throw line … York posted a 35-27 advantage on the glass, their best rebounding margin of the campaign … the Spartans started the game 1-8 from the floor but rebounded to shoot 55.6% (15-for-27) from the floor in the first half … the Spartans got another 19 points off the bench … York dished out another 21 assists on 32 field goals made … the Spartans have 64 assists during their four game win streak … the Spartans won the tournament with a pair of 29-point wins … the Spartans shot 43.4% (23-for-53) from three for the weekend … York tied a season-low with seven turnovers … the Spartans had 12 more steals as they now have 50 during their winning streak … the Spartans margin of victory is 21.8 during their four game streak … York shot 54.6% (65-for-119) from the floor for the tournament … the Spartans held Moravian to 50 points, their second best defensive scoring effort of the year (48 points vs. Houghton).
 
Spartan Notes
This is the first meeting between the two programs … freshman Jayden Rowe earned the tournament MVP award after pouring in a career-high 26 points in his 30 minutes of play … Rowe was 8-for-14 from the floor including a career-high 6-for-10 from three as he also made 4-of-5 from the stripe … junior Chris Miers played well for York as he added 14 points … Kai Cipalla was the third Spartan in double figures with 10 points while he also had a career-high eight rebounds in addition to two steals and two assists … sophomore Jackson Mascari tied his career-high with 13 rebounds while he also set a career-high with seven assists … Mascari now has 18 assists in his last four games … Tate Landis had another three steals as he had a combined 10 thefts for the weekend … Sean Kelly chipped in with eight points in the win as he was 3-for-3 from the floor including 2-for-2 from three.
 
Up Next
The Spartans return to action on Wednesday night when they head to Reading, PA to face the Albright Lions in MAC Commonwealth play. Tip time in Reading is set for 6:00 pm.