YORK, PA – The York College men's basketball team made some history on Wednesday night as they advanced to their first Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth championship game thanks to their 86-69 semifinal win over Hood College at Wolf Gymnasium.
The Spartans took a 20-point halftime lead and where able to maintain that advantage throughout most of the second half.
The Spartans improve to 20-6 overall while the Blazers end their campaign at 16-10.
 
How It Happened
• The start for Hood was dramatically different than the first two game as the Blazers hit the Spartans with an 8-0 spurt to start the game. The Spartans battled back and eventually took a 17-16 lead on a Kai Cipalla lay-up with 12:51 left in the first half. That bucket was part of a 21-4 run that gave the Spartans a 33-20 lead with 6:52 before the half. Pat Gilhool and Cipalla fueled the outburst with nine points each during the outburst while Jayden Rowe added a triple.
• The Spartans ended the half on a 9-3 run as they took a 48-28 lead. The Spartans shot a blistering 58.1% from the floor in the first half including 44.4% (8-for-18) from distance.
• In the regular season meetings against the Blazers, the Spartans had two big halftime leads. In each instance, the Blazers came roaring out of the half and cut into the Spartan advantage. This time, the Spartans were able to start the half with an 11-4 run to push the lead to 59-32 just 4:12 into the stanza. The Blazers steadied the ship and ripped off a 14-3 spurt to slice their deficit to 16 at 67-51. York responded with an 14-5 run that included a trio of Chris Miers threes to push the lead up to 25 with 2:52 left.
• The Blazers didn't go down without a fight as they had a 13-5 rush to end the game but the Spartan lead was too big to overcome.
 
By the Numbers
The Spartans finished the game shooting 54.2% (32-for-59) from the floor including 15-of-34 (44.1%) from three … the Spartans were 7-for-15 (46.7%) from the line … Hood shot 50.0% (27-for-54) from the field and 4-for-15 (26.7%) from three … the Blazers shot 57.9% (11-for-19) from the free throw line … the Blazers held a slight 32-31 rebounding advantage with both teams having 10 offensive rebounds … York had a 24-7 bulge in assists … Hood had 15 turnovers which York turned into 19 points while the Spartans had nine miscues resulting in eight points … York had 14 steals while Hood had five … Hood had a 46-34 advantage in paint points … York led for 82.7% (32:51) of the game … the Spartans' largest lead to 27 at 64-37 with 11:16 left in the game … Garrison Linton led the way for the Blazers as he poured in a game-high 25 points including nine in Hood's final run of the game … Linton was 10-for-14 from the floor and 5-9 from the line while he also had three rebounds and three assists ... Garrett Cox added 14 points and 10 rebounds for the double-double … Kullen Robinson and Jevon Yarbrough each contributed 10 points to the Blazer attack.
 
Spartan Notes
The Spartans improves to 13-9 all-time against Hood as the Green and White took two of three in a highly entertaining series this year … the Spartans improve to 11-1 at home as they have won ten straight at Wolf Gymnasium … the Spartans held the highest scoring team in the Commonwealth to their two lowest scoring outputs of the year in the last two games including a season low in the semifinals … York also limited Hood to a season-low tying four made three point field goals … York shot over 50% from the floor for the 11^th time this year including the fifth time at home … the Spartans have been shooting it well from distance in the last three games as they have connected 44 times while they have limited their three opponents to just 13 makes … York did another great job of taking care of the ball as they had just nine turnovers in the win … York has been in single digits in miscues in nine games this year … York's 14 steals tied a season-high … York placed a season-high six players in double figures led by Kai Cipalla as he had 24 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals … Cipalla was 9-for-11 from the floor and 6-for-8 from the free throw line as he played all 40 minutes for York … Jayden Rowe added 15 points to go along with six rebounds, five assists, two steals and one big blocked shot … Rowe was 6-for-9 from the floor including 3-of-6 from three … Tate Landis, the reigning Commonwealth Player of the Week, notched 11 points, six rebounds, a game-high eight assists, and a team-high four steals in a complete performance … Pat Gilhool came off the bench to notch 12 points and four rebounds … Chris Miers had 11 points, four rebounds, two assists and one steal … Jackson Mascari recorded 10 points, three rebounds, five assists and three steals for the Green and White as he also played all 40 minutes of the game.
 
Up Next
The Spartans will host fourth seeded Alvernia in the MAC Commonwealth Tournament championship game on Saturday afternoon at Wolf Gymnasium. Tip time is set for 3:00 pm. The championship game will be the first men's conference title game hosted at the Grumbacher Center and Wolf Gymnasium.

Audio Highlights Courtesy of Darrell Henry, the Voice of the Spartans