The two teams came out at the start of the game looking to gain an advantage but neither team could gain a foothold. That changed at the 14:40 mark as Brian Singer hit a lay up that gave the Spartans a 9-8 lead. The green and white smacked the Monarchs with a 15-2 run that turned the one point Spartan deficit into a 22-10 York lead. Methodist picked up a Chris Mark lay up at the 6:45 mark but York scored 17 of the game’s next 20 points to take a 39-15 lead with 1:02 remaining in the half. The Monarchs made a mad dash late in the half as they scored five points in the last 40 seconds of the half. That trimmed their halftime deficit to 39-20.
The Spartans knew coming out of the half that the Monarchs would be an inspired squad. The Spartans maintained their lead between 16 and 24 points over the first 12 minutes of the second half. Methodist dialed up the defensive pressure and worked the Spartan lead down to 15 with 6:58 remaining in the game. A Eugene Grant trey trimmed the Spartan lead to 67-53 with five minutes left. A huge Kenny Fass three point play 27 seconds later pushed the lead back to 17 points and the York lead would not shrink below 16 points the rest of the way.
York received a game-high 19 points from junior Brandon Bushey while he also contributed five rebounds, five assists, three steals and two blocks. Senior Ben Seibert recorded his second double-double of the year with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Freshman Chad McGowan added 15 points and six rebounds. McGowan was 7-for-8 from the floor in his 19 minutes of action. Sophomore Brad Zerfing tallied 10 points, five assists, and two rebounds to the Spartan cause. Junior Paddy Lee had a very solid all-around game with eight points, nine rebounds, four assists, three steals, and one blocked shot.
Grant led the Monarchs with 15 points, four rebounds, three steals, and two assists. Sam Porter, the Saturday night hero for the Monarchs, was the other Methodist player in double figures with 14 rebounds, seven rebounds and two assists. Seth Thomas pulled down a team-high nine rebounds for the visitors.
The Spartans finished the game shooting 52.5% from the floor while Methodist made just 37.5% of their attempts from the field. Methodist struggled from beyond the arc as they were just 1-for-16 while the Spartans converted 6-of-18 from downtown. The Monarchs did force 26 Spartan turnovers with 15 of their miscues coming in the second half. Both teams were bad from the charity stripe as York was 11-for-20 (55%) while Methodist was 10-for-23 (43.5%).
The consolation game was as exciting as Saturday’s second semifinal as Widener edged Elmira 66-63.
Widener controlled the play in the first half as they looked to make up for Saturday’s disappointing two point loss to Methodist. The Pioneers carried a 35-27 lead to the half and appeared to be in control of the contest.
Elmira opened the second half with a 17-8 run to take a 44-43 lead with 13:49 remaining in the game. The Soaring Eagles pushed the lead to nine at 55-46 with 8:55 left in the game. The Pioneers went on an 11-2 run, tying the game at 57 with a little less than five minutes left in the contest. The teams would be tied again at 59 and 61 before Casey Stitzel hit a pair of free throws with 39 seconds left to give Widener a lead they would not lose. Stitzel hit a pair of key insurance free throws with six seconds left to seal the win.
Stitzel poured in a game-high 21 points to lead the Pioneers. Essien Ford added 16 points, a team-high eight rebounds, and four steals while Matt Sheaffer was the third Pioneer in double figures with 14 points. Brandon Blakey had a game-high six assists to engineer the Pioneer offense.
Charles Henry led Elmira with 19 points and five assists. Micah Owens contributed a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds while Albert Davis added 10 points and eight boards.
York College opens their conference schedule on Wednesday as they travel to Goucher College to face the Gophers in the Capital Athletic Conference opener for both squads. Tip time from Towson is set for 7:30 pm. Methodist hosts Voorhees on Tuesday evening at 7:30 pm in their next contest. Widener travels to Moravian on Thursday while Elmira plays at Rochester on Wednesday night.