The Gophers jumped out to an early lead as they held a 14-8 edge a little less than five minutes into the game. Back-to-back threes for the Spartans forged the first tie of the game before the Gophers retook the lead and held the advantage for the next four minutes of the contest. Freshman Chad McGowan hit a pair of free throws to take a 21-20 but then Trevor Quinn retied the game at 21. The Spartans then held a lead until the fourth tie of the contest at 29 with 3:57 remaining before intermission. The Spartans went on a quick 7-0 spurt to take a 36-39 lead with 2:33 left. The Gopher proceeded to score eight of the final nine points of the half to forge a 37-37 tie at the half. The halftime deadlock is the first time the Spartans have gone to the half tied.
The Spartans came out the half inspired as the green and white began the half with another 7-0 run to take the 44-37 lead. The Spartans maintained the lead the remainder of the game but the Gophers cut the lead to one three different times, the last time coming on a Garrett Smith jumper with 6:41 remaining. The Spartans answered Smith’s jumper with yet another 7-0 spurt to take a 64-56 lead with 4:27 left in regulation. Goucher cut into the lead again as they trailed 64-61 with 3:43 showing on the clock but the Spartans fashioned one final run, this one a 10-1 burst to hand the Spartans a 74-62 lead with 51 seconds left. That would be more than enough as the Spartans settled for the 13 point margin of victory.
York received 15 points from both McGowan and junior Kenny Fass. Fass added seven rebounds and three assists while McGowan pulled in six caroms and had two big second-half steals for the Spartans. Junior Brandon Bushey chipped in with 12 points and six rebounds. The interior tandem of junior Brian Singer and senior Ben Seibert each tallied 11 points while Singer pulled in a game-high 13 rebounds, one board short of his career high, and swatted away five shots. Seibert added nine caroms in his 22 minutes of action. Junior Paddy Lee added seven rebounds, five assists, four steals, and three points.
The Gophers received double-doubles from Smith and Quinn. Smith had a game-high 19 points and 11 rebounds while Quinn notched 16 points and 10 rebounds. James Russo added 14 points while Jonathan Garritt and Jermaine Saunders each dished out five assists and collected three steals.
The Spartans held a significant 58-35 edge in rebounding as York improves to 14-2 when outrebounding their opponents. The green and white are currently ranked fifth in the nation in rebounding margin, averaging 10.8 more rebounds per game than their opponents.
York is also ranked 25th in the country in field goal percentage defense and they held Goucher under their season average as the Gophers converted just 35.7% of their attempts from the floor. Another area of dominance for the Spartans was trips to the free throw line as York was 24-for-32 at the charity stripe while Goucher was just 9-for-14. The Gophers’ aggressive defense was whistled for 25 infractions while the Spartans committed 16 fouls.
The Spartans return to action on Saturday when they host Marymount University in a key Capital Athletic Conference contest. Game time at Wolf Gym is set for 2:00 pm.
Goucher vs York (Pa.) 2/2/05 8:00 pm at Charles Wolf Gym-York, PA At Charles Wolf Gym-York, PA YORK (PA.) 77, GOUCHER 64 GOUCHER (14-6, 5-4 CAC) Garrett Smith 8-15 3-6 19; Trevor Quinn 7-13 1-2 16; James Russo 5-12 0-0 14; Jermaine Saunders 3-13 0-0 6; Jonathan Garritt 1-6 3-4 5; Justin Ajose 1-2 2-2 4; Tony Posteraro 0-3 0-0 0; Kevin Green 0-3 0-0 0; Cameron Brown 0-3 0-0 0; Tim Merritt 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-70 9-14 64. YORK (PA.) (17-2, 7-2 CAC) Kenny Fass 6-9 0-1 15; Chad McGowan 4-12 7-11 15; Brandon Bushey 4-10 4-4 12; Brian Singer 4-10 3-5 11; Ben Seibert 4-8 3-3 11; Brad Zerfing 1-7 2-2 5; Joe Yeck 1-1 2-2 5; Paddy Lee 0-3 3-4 3; Josh Wurtz 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-61 24-32 77. Goucher....................... 37 27 - 64 York (Pa.).................... 37 40 - 77 3-point goals-Goucher 5-19 (James Russo 4-7; Trevor Quinn 1-3; Jonathan Garritt 0-3; Tony Posteraro 0-2; Cameron Brown 0-1; Jermaine Saunders 0-3), York (Pa.) 5-13 (Kenny Fass 3-4; Joe Yeck 1-1; Brad Zerfing 1-3; Paddy Lee 0-1; Josh Wurtz 0-1; Brandon Bushey 0-3). Fouled out--Goucher-None, York (Pa.)-Ben Seibert. Rebounds-Goucher 35 (Garrett Smith 11), York (Pa.) 58 (Brian Singer 13). Assists-Goucher 13 (Jermaine Saunders 5; Jonathan Garritt 5), York (Pa.) 18 (Paddy Lee 5). Total fouls-Goucher 25, York (Pa.) 16. A-488