YORK, PA – The Widener University Pride men's basketball team used a big first half to outlast York College 65-61 in MAC Commonwealth play on Saturday in York. The Pride had a 41-point first half as they shot 61.5% from the floor in the opening 20 minutes of play.
York falls to 7-9 overall as they have lost three straight. The Spartans are now 1-6 in the league. Widener improves to 10-4 overall and 5-2 in the conference.
 
How It Happened
• The Spartans scored first but the Pride went on a 16-4 run over the opening 7:31 of the game. The Pride pushed the lead to 14 on a three-point play from Xavier Ernest at the 9:46 mark. The Pride maintained the lead, pushing it to as high as 15 on a pair of Kevin Schenk free throws with 5:25 left in the opening half. The Spartans cut the lead to 11 on a Jayden Rowe bucket with 23 seconds left but Pat Holden hit a short jumper with two seconds left to give Widener at 41-28 lead at the break.
• Widener was 16-for-26 (61.5%) in the first half including 4-for-5 (80%) from three and 5-for-7 from the line (71.4%). York shot just 39.1% from the floor in the opening 20 minutes including 1-for-13 from three. York was 9-for-14 from the stripe.
• The Spartans got off to a great start in the second half as Rowe and Sean Kelly drilled back-to-back threes as York cut their deficit to seven. After a Steven Matlack lay-up, Kelly and Rowe hit back-to-back lay-ups to shave their deficit to five three minutes into the half. The Pride answered with a 12-3 run that pushed the Widener lead back to 14 at 55-41.
• York responded with a 13-4 run of their own to get to within five at 59-54 with 4:10 left in the game. After a Dominic Dunn jumper pushed the lead back to seven, Rowe nailed another three as York's deficit was four. Pat Holden converted a pair of free throws with 1:49 left, extending the lead to six. York wouldn't be able to get closer than four the rest of the way.
 
By the Numbers
York struggled to shoot the ball for the second straight game as they went 20-for-57 (35.1%) from the field in the loss … York is 34-for-109 (31.2%) from the floor in their last two games … the Spartans are a combined 15-for-69 (21.7%) from three in their last two games … the Spartans did limit Widener to 38.5% (10-for-26) shooting in the second half including just 2-for-12 from three … York finished the game making 14-of-21 from the free throw line and that's the most free throws they have made in a game since December 14 when they made 14 against Alvernia … York held a huge 44-25 (+19) advantage on the glass, their biggest positive margin of the year … the Spartans held a 20-7 advantage in second chance points … York had 17 turnovers which led to 17 Pride points … the Widener bench outscored their Spartan counterparts 25-9 … York's last three losses have come by a combined 15 points … the Pride placed three players in double figures led by Kevin Schenk and Dominic Dunn each tallied 11 points while Myles Bright had 10 points off the bench.
 
Spartan Notes
The Spartans have dropped five straight in the series against the Pride as Widener holds a 7-1 advantage in the all-time series … the Pride have earned a pair of close wins at Wolf Gym as they beat York 61-60 last February and then earned the four-point win on Saturday … freshman guard Jayden Rowe tied his career-high for the third time this year as he poured in 26 points in the game … Rowe added six rebounds, one short of tying his career high of seven … grad student guard Sean Kelly contributed nine points, one point short of his season-high ten points … sophomore Kai Cipalla set a new career-high with 12 rebounds while he added seven points, two blocks, an assist and steal … Jackson Mascari pulled down 10 rebounds, the seventh time this year he has reached double figures in rebounds … the game was York's annual Hoops for T1D Heroes celebrating families who deal with type-1 diabetes … all proceeds from today's game were donated to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) … the 50/50 raffle during the game was well north of $600.
 
Up Next
The Spartans head out on the road on Wednesday evening as they head to Frederick, Maryland to face Hood College in a MAC Commonwealth contest. Tip time is set for 6:00 pm.