PATCHOGUE, NY --- (www.YORKATHLETICS.com) York College men's basketball opened the 2021-22 season Wednesday evening with a convincing 94-84 road win against the St. Joseph's College (L.I.) Golden Eagles (0-2) in a non-conference matchup from Danzi Center in Patchogue.  The Cardinals start the campaign with a win for the second time in the last three seasons, and improve to 2-1 in season openers against St. Joseph's since 2015-16.  

"This was an important game because we faced adversity against a good basketball team and we were able to stay together and execute in order to get the win.  That is very important for a group with so many new faces , said head coach Nolan Adams. 

 Guillermo Hernandez scored York's first points of the season with a layup at the 18:24 mark to knot the game at two.  Hernandez then gave York a 4-2 lead 21 seconds later with a layup to continue a 9-2 Cardinal run, capped by a Devine Chisholm triple.  With the game tied at nine, Donald Hartley Jr. rattled off a trio of three-pointers to put the Cardinals up by seven (18-11) with 13:07 left.  St. Joseph's chipped away to pull within two (39-37) with 2:03 remaining before York took a 43-37 lead into intermission on back-to-back field goals by Quran Dublin and Olawale Kila to close out the half.

Following a trey by Chisholm with 16:21 showing on the second-half clock to push the Cardinals ahead by 10 (56-46), St. Joseph rallied to take its first lead since York pulled ahead at the 18:03 mark in the opening stanza.  Matthew Hirdt (nine points) and Timothy Hirdt (eight points) combined to score 17 points during a 21-9 Golden Eagle spurt  to take a 67-65 lead with 8:51 left.  After St. Joseph's went up by four (73-69), Roki Mendoza Familia dropped in a layup with 6:41 remaining to ignite a 9-0 Cardinal run to push York ahead for good for the final 5:37.  York went on a 14-4 scoring spree to build a game-high 12 point advantage (94-82) with 1:03 left as Dublin poured in 11-straight points before Hartley Jr. scored four more to close out the run. 

York's 94 points were the program's highest-scoring output in a season-opener since the 2015-16 campaign, when the Cardinals used an overtime period to defeat St. Joseph's, 94-82.  Leading the charge for York was Dublin, who went off for 20 points in the second half (6-of-8 FG, 2-of-3 3FG, 6-of-7 FT) to finish with a game-high 32 points (10-of-17 FG, 4-of-9 3FG, 8-of-9 FT) to go with seven rebounds, four assists and three steals in 40 minutes of action.  Hartley Jr. followed with 22 points (4-of-9 3FG, 10-of-15 FT) and six rebounds while Chisholm contributed 16 points (5-of-9 FG, 3-of-4 3FG), six assists (game-high) and two steals.  Hernandez posted his first-career double-double, scoring a  career-high 13 points (6-of-10 FG) and added 12 rebounds (six offensive). Mendoza Familia chipped in with seven points and six rebounds. 

Spencer Malloy paced St. Joseph's with 19 points (8-of-11 FG), 11 rebounds and five assists (zero turnovers).  Matthew Hirdt and Timothy Hirdt followed with 16 and 15 points, respectively.

In the end, York scored 15 points off 14 Golden Eagle turnovers and outpaced St. Joseph's in fast-break points (10-2).  The Cardinals also outrebounded St. Joseph's by two (42-40) while the Golden Eagles pulled-down 16 offensive boards to hold a 17-12 advantage in second-chance points.  St. Joseph's outplayed York in steals (9-8), blocks (2-1), points in the paint (46-32) and bench scoring (23-4).  

The Cardinals (1-0) remain on the road Friday to take on the Rutgers University-Newark Scarlet Raiders (0-0) at 7 p.m. on day one of the John K. Adams Tip-Off Classic (Nov. 12-13) from The Golden Dome in Newark.

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