The Penn State York men’s basketball team continued its winning ways over the weekend, earning a pair of home wins and improving to 8-0 in the Penn State University Athletic Conference (PSUAC).
The Lions are now 13-2 overall, with their only losses against NCAA foes. They fell to Division I UMBC on Nov. 10 and Division II Millersville on Nov. 22.
On Friday, Penn State York was tested but took down Penn State Greater Allegheny, 92-81, thanks to five double-digit scorers. Deriq Brown (New Oxford) led the charge with 26 points and 18 rebounds. John John Gillespie added 18 points, D’Andre Davis (York Catholic) had 17, DJ Jenkins notched 14 and Jon Ware came off the bench to score 12. Jenkins led the Lions with nine rebounds and Davis grabbed seven.
Saturday’s win over Penn State Du Bois came without much drama, as the host Lions led by 14 at halftime and turned up the heat in the second half en route to an 82-51 victory. Gillespie logged a team-high 25 minutes and scored 20 points, while Brown scored 11 and Jenkins added 10. Fifteen different players saw the floor and 10 found the basket.
Head coach Matt Rotonda’s team has excelled with its up-tempo style and averaged 79.2 points per game. The Lions have shot 41.4% from 3-point range on 15.5 attempts a night, and they’re connecting from the foul line at an 80.3% clip. Brown and Gillespie are shooting 45.9% and 46.2% from long range, respectively.
Penn State York hosts Christendom at 6 p.m. Friday, then won’t play again until Jan. 7, 2023, against Central Penn. The team’s perfect PSUAC record won’t be put on the line until Jan. 13 at Penn State Mont Alto.
The Lion women’s team fell 80-64 against Greater Allegheny on Friday, but bounced back with a 92-65 victory Saturday against Du Bois. Penn State York is 4-4 in the PSUAC and 7-6 overall as it enters the winter break.
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York-Adams League big picture:Winter sports already beginning division play
YORK COLLEGE NOTES
The Spartans began their indoor track and field season Friday at the Diplomat Open, hosted by Franklin & Marshall, with the men earning 16 individual top-10 finishes and the women earning six. Julia Pena, a junior from New York, had four of those results by herself, including two victories. She set a school record of 3.81 meters in the pole vault and won the long jump with a 5.36-meter leap. Pena earned MAC Commonwealth Field Athlete of the Week honors Monday.
York College wrestling saw a 40-year streak come to an end Friday when it lost to Johns Hopkins, 23-19, in Baltimore. The Spartans had won 24 straight in the series, but lost six of 10 individual matches in the road loss. York College (0-2) will head to Nashville this weekend and compete in duals against No. 11 Baldwin Wallace, No. 19 Olivet, No. 8 Wisconsin-Whitewater and No. 25 Luther.
The Spartan basketball teams last played last Tuesday, when both the men and women fell to Lebanon Valley College. They’re both at home Wednesday against Alvernia, then the women (3-5, 1-2) will compete in the Elizabethtown College Tournament over the weekend. The York men (2-5, 0-3) visit Arcadia on Saturday and host Penn State Altoona next Tuesday before the holiday break.
In off-the-field news, York College men’s soccer’s Luke Nall was named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-America team last week. The junior midfielder, who holds a 4.00 GPA as a computer engineering major, is the 16th Spartan student-athlete to earn such honors.
LOCAL IMPACTS
D’Shantae Edwards, a Dallastown graduate and freshman with Bethune-Cookman women’s basketball, recorded 14 points and a whopping 10 steals in a Tuesday afternoon game against Iona. That’s the second-highest total in program history. Edwards has started all eight games for the Wildcats (who lost 60-57 to fall to 0-8) and averaged 6.6 points and 4.4 rebounds per contest.
𝙃𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙖 𝙙𝙖𝙮, 𝘿’𝙎𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙚!
10 steals this afternoon puts her in second place in single-game steals in B-CU program history!#𝙇𝙚𝙩𝙨𝙂𝙤 | #𝙃𝙖𝙞𝙡𝙒𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙨 | #𝙋𝙧𝙚𝙮𝙏𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 pic.twitter.com/MVvO9QJzXU
Eli Workinger, a Red Lion graduate who has played three seasons at Millersville, has entered the NCAA transfer portal. The tight end will pursue a new football opportunity after graduating in the spring.
I would like to begin by thanking the coaches at Millersville for believing in me and pushing me to new heights. Many thanks to my teammates who became brothers. I’ve officially entered the NCAA transfer portal looking to pursue an MBA after graduation this spring. Thank you! pic.twitter.com/S64tgfikrg
And in front of a massive national audience in the Army-Navy game, West York graduate Ay’Jaun Marshall recorded three carries for 14 yards for the Black Knights, who defeated the rival Midshipmen 20-17 in double-overtime Saturday.
