The first half featured a steady diet of back-and-forth play. The green and white jumped out to an early eight-point lead only to have the Saints put together a 12-2 run to take a 16-14 lead. That began a stretch of seven minutes where there were three ties and a trio of lead changes. The Spartans finally took control of the half over the last four minutes of the stanza as YCP scored 12 of the final 16 points of the half to take a 48-38 lead to the intermission.
The Spartans maintained that lead until midway through the second half when Marymount trimmed the Spartan advantage to three at 60-57 with 13:24 showing on the clock. The hosts used a 13-2 run to push the lead to 14 at 73-59 with 9:10 remaining in the game. The Spartan lead would be 11 with 4:03 left when Kenny Fass hit a lay-up. That would begin a stretch where the Spartans failed to score as an 11 point bulge was trimmed to three. The 8-0 Marymount run was capped by a Pooyan Rahimi trey with 1:00 left in the game. Fortunately for YCP, that three was Marymount’s last points as the Spartans converted 5-of-7 from the charity stripe and also got a steal and a lay-up over the final minute to seal the win.
The Spartans were led by sophomore Brandon Bushey as the guard poured in a career-high tying 27 points in addition to pulling in seven rebounds, dishing out three assists and collecting two steals. Junior center Ben Seibert was also outstanding for YCP as he notched a new career-high with 17 points while he also pulled in a team-best nine rebounds. Senior Steve Schmehl added 16 points and three rebounds while Josh Wurtz was the fourth Spartan to reach double digits in the scoring column with 10 points. Junior Stephen Grimes came within one assist of tying the single-game school record with 14 assists while he also added seven rebounds, five points and three steals.
Marymount was led by Corey Diamond as the sophomore tallied 21 points and grabbed five rebounds. Carlton Phelps added 20 points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals to the Saint attack. Ed Carrai was the third Saint in double figures with 10 points and six rebounds while Carson Robinson pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds in addition to his eight points, three assists, and three steals.
The Spartans ended the game shooting 50.8% (33-65) from the floor and 50% (6-12) from beyond the arc while Marymount converted 46.6% (34-73) from the field but just 33.3% (8-24) from downtown. The Spartans held a significant advantage from the free throw line as YCP was 15-22 (68.2%) while Marymount was just 2-7 (28.6%).
The Spartans return to action on Saturday when they host St. Mary’s College in a CAC contest. Game time from Wolf Gym is set for 2:00 pm.