The game was tight the entire way. The Spartans fired the opening salvo as they went on an early 8-0 run turning a 7-7 tie into a 15-7 edge with 11:04 remaining in the half. The Cardinals responded with an 10-0 run of their own as they led 23-20 with 5:56 left in the stanza. That three point lead would be the Cardinals’ largest advantage of the game. York quickly retook the lead thanks to a free throw by Chad McGowan, a three pointer to beat the shot clock from Joe Yeck and a fast break layup from Brandon Bushey to take a 26-23 lead. The Spartans scored nine of the final 14 points of the half as they took a 35-30 lead to the half. The Spartans continue their dominance when leading at the break as they are now 18-0 when leading at the half.
The second half saw the Spartans maintain their lead between one and eight points until the Cardinals tied the game at 48 with 9:10 remaining in regulation. The Spartans received a basket and two free throws from Brian Singer to take the 52-48 lead. The Spartan lead would grow to five over the next three minutes but the Cardinals received a three from Pat Satalin and a pair of free throws from Pat Dwyer to tie the game at 60 with 3:21 remaining in the game. That is when sophomore guard Brad Zerfing hit the first of nine consecutive free throws over the last 3:06 of the game. Zerfing hit a pair of freebies at 3:06, 1:38, 1:05, and 0:43 before the Cardinals had to foul Bushey twice as he converted a pair at 0:35 and 0:27. Zerfing capped his amazing run by splitting a pair with 14 seconds left to provide the Spartans with nine of their final 13 points of the game. Conversely, the Cardinals went 0-for-4 from the line over the last 1:23 of the game. The Spartans did not make a field goal over the last 5:00 of the game as Bushey’s jumper with 5:15 was the last time the green and white converted a field goal in the game. Fortunately, York was making their living at the charity stripe over the final five minutes.
The Spartans had four players reach double figures including Bushey as the junior tallied a game-high 21 points. Bushey was 6-for-12 from the field including 3-for-6 from distance. He also converted all six of his free throw attempts as he is ranked 29th in the nation in free throw percentage. Zerfing chipped in with 13 points, four rebounds, two steals, and one assist. McGowan was the third Spartan in double figures with 11 points while he also had three boards, one assist, and one steal. Singer was the fourth Spartan in double digits with 10 points, a team-high tying seven boards and three blocked shots. Senior Ben Seibert tied Singer for team rebounding honors as he also pulled down seven boards.
The Cardinals received a double-double from forward Shane Sowden as he recorded 20 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Sowden was a tough match up for the Spartans as he converted 9-of-13 from the floor. Satalin chipped in with 16 points but he was hounded into a 4-for-14 performance from the field. Dwyer was the third Cardinal in double figures with 11 points but he went just 5-for-10 from the charity stripe.
The Spartans won the game from the free throw line as they were uncharacteristically cold from the field. The green and white converted 73.3% from the stripe including the stretch of 13 straight late in the game. Catholic struggled from the stripe as they went just 16-for-30, good for a 53.3% conversion rate. York finished the game shooting just 39.6% from the floor for the game, their second lowest shooting percentage of the season at home. It is also just the third time this season that the Spartans have shot below 40% from the floor for the game. While the Spartans weren’t great from the floor they did convert 9-of-21 (42.9%) from distance. The Cardinals outrebound the Spartans 38-36. They are just the fourth team to out board the Spartans in a game. Interestingly, the Spartans are a perfect 4-0 in those contests.
The green and white will now wait until 10:30 pm on Sunday to hear who and where they will be playing in the NCAA Tournament. The final pairings will be posted on the York College web site as soon as they become available. The NCAA Tournament kicks off with first round action on Thursday, March 3.
Catholic vs York (Pa.) 2/27/05 2:00 pm at Charles Wolf Gym-York, PA At Charles Wolf Gym-York, PA YORK (PA.) 73, CATHOLIC 62 CATHOLIC (18-9) Shane Sowden 9-13 2-5 20; Pat Satalin 4-14 5-6 16; Patrick Dwyer 3-5 5-10 11; Tim Burke 1-2 2-2 4; Steven Papageorge 1-3 0-0 3; Mike Wasilenko 1-7 0-3 2; Matt Spierenburg 1-2 0-0 2; Scott Fumai 0-3 2-2 2; Stephen Wheeler 1-1 0-2 2. Totals 21-50 16-30 62. YORK (PA.) (25-2) Brandon Bushey 6-12 6-6 21; Brad Zerfing 2-5 9-10 13; Chad McGowan 3-12 4-6 11; Brian Singer 4-11 2-2 10; Josh Wurtz 2-4 0-0 6; Joe Yeck 2-3 0-0 6; Kenny Fass 1-2 0-0 3; Paddy Lee 1-1 0-0 2; Ben Seibert 0-3 1-4 1; Pat D'Arcy 0-0 0-0 0; Chris Folland 0-0 0-2 0; Chris Cioffi 0-0 0-0 0; Shane Beccio 0-0 0-0 0; Dan Klunk 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-53 22-30 73. Catholic...................... 30 32 - 62 York (Pa.).................... 35 38 - 73 3-point goals-Catholic 4-16 (Pat Satalin 3-9; Steven Papageorge 1-3; Tim Burke 0-1; Scott Fumai 0-3), York (Pa.) 9-21 (Brandon Bushey 3-6; Joe Yeck 2-3; Josh Wurtz 2-4; Chad McGowan 1-3; Kenny Fass 1-2; Brad Zerfing 0-3). Fouled out--Catholic-None, York (Pa.)-None. Rebounds-Catholic 44 (Shane Sowden 12), York (Pa.) 39 (Brian Singer 7; Ben Seibert 7). Assists-Catholic 10 (Steven Papageorge 2; Mike Wasilenko 2; Shane Sowden 2; Tim Burke 2), York (Pa.) 11 (Paddy Lee 3; Kenny Fass 3). Total fouls-Catholic 19, York (Pa.) 25. A-1221