The Spartans, who cost themselves a chance to host a quarterfinal game with Saturday’s loss to the Seahawks, played a solid first half as they held St. Mary’s to 21 points. Unfortunately for YCP, the Spartans scored just 22 points in the half as they led by one at the intermission. The Seahawks held an early four point but three point field goals from Brad Zerfing, Brandon Bushey, and Kenny Fass gave the Spartans a 12-7 lead as YCP would not trail the rest of the night. The Spartans built their lead to seven twice in the half but St. Mary’s scored 10 of the final 14 points of the stanza to cut the Spartan lead to one.
The Seahawks came out of the half strong and tied the game at 26 with 16:26 left in the game. The Spartans responded by hitting the hosts with a 9-0 run to push the Spartan lead to 35-26. St. Mary’s chipped away at the Spartan lead and trimmed the YCP advantage to 43-40 with 6:39 remaining in regulation. The green and white, after a timeout, embarked on a 11-2 run that transformed the green and white lead to 54-42 with 1:17 remaining. The Spartan lead did not fall below eight the rest of the way before the visitors settled for the 10-point win.
Fass led the Spartans with 16 points, six rebounds, three assists, three steals, and one block. Fass, who has been outstanding for YCP of late, was 6-for-8 from the floor, 2-of-2 from beyond the arc, and 2-for-2 from the charity stripe. Senior Steve Schmehl added 12 points and three assists while Bushey tallied 10 points and five rebounds. Zerfing contributed nine points and three rebounds while junior Ben Seibert chipped in with a game-high nine rebounds in addition to seven points, three assists, and two blocked shots.
St. Mary’s received 14 points from guard Matt Miller. Guard Dan Engelstad added seven points, seven rebounds, five assists, and three steals while Joe Farina and Donovan Gaspard added eight points each.
The Spartans outrebounded the Seahawks 40-29 and also held the hosts to 36.8% shooting from the floor for the game. The green and white converted 48% of their attempts from the field and 45.5% from downtown.
York, the tournament’s five seed, travels to Mary Washington on Thursday evening for the semifinal contest. Game time will be determined on Wednesday.