The Spartans wasted little time in seizing control of the contest as they led 11-5 five minutes into the game. The Spartans built the lead to 12 a little over five minutes later as the green and white held a 23-11 advantage with 9:51 remaining in the opening half. A Matt Keating three cut the Spartan lead to nine but York slowly pulled away during the remaining seven minutes of the half to take a 38-22 lead to the half.
The second half saw the Spartans continue to build on their lead as the advantage didn’t get below 14 and topped out a the final 29 point advantage.
York put together a very balanced effort for the game. Four Spartans reached double figures led by senior forward Ben Seibert as he notched 13 points. Brandon Bushey and Brad Zerfing each recorded 12 points for the Spartans while freshman Chad McGowan was the fourth Spartan in double figures with 11 points. Bushey added six rebounds, five steals, and three assists for the green and white while McGowan had five rebounds, three assists, and three blocked shots for YCP. Junior Kenny Fass added six points, six rebounds, four assists, and one block to the Spartan effort.
All 14 Spartans saw action in the contest as no York player played more than 25 minutes in the contest.
Andy Frica recorded a double-double with 11 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Nick Molak tallied a team-high 12 points in addition to his team-high four assists.
York finished the game shooting 56.6% from the floor while Elmira converted just 37.5% of their attempts from the field. Neither team was very proficient from the free throw line as York was just 9-for-15 (60%) while Elmira made 10-of-18 (55.6%) from the charity stripe.
The other semifinal was extremely exciting as Methodist’s Sam Porter converted a three point play with one second left to lift the Monarchs to a 71-69 win over Widener. The Monarchs, who trailed the almost the entire game, took a 68-67 lead on a Jonathan Jackson three with 22 seconds left in the game. The Pioneers answered with a Brandon Blakey lay-up with six seconds left to give Widener the 69-68 advantage. Eugene Grant received the inbounds pass, drove to the free throw line where he delivered a perfect bounce pass to Porter who hit the lay up and was fouled by Blakey with just one tick on the clock. Porter converted the free throw and Widener could not manage to get a shot off before time expired.
Methodist, now 3-0 overall, was led by Seth Thomas as he tossed in a game-high 20 points while he also collected seven rebounds. Porter recorded a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds while Dragan Radmanovic had 11 points and five rebounds.
Widener, now 2-2, was led by Matt Sheaffer as he tallied 16 points. Kris Clarkson had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Malcolm Thomas had 13 points while Essien Ford had 12 points and five rebounds. Casey Stitzel was the fifth Pioneer in double figures with 11 points.
Widener led 37-24 at the half and held as much as a 17 point lead in the first half.
Widener and Elmira kick off Sunday’s action with a 1:00 pm tip in the consolation game followed by York and Methodist in the championship game at 3:00 pm.