Kai Cipalla has been a cornerstone for the York College men’s basketball team since transferring in from Millersville in 2022. It took the Warwick graduate just two-and-a-half seasons to reach 1,000 points in his Spartan career, a milestone he reached in style last weekend.
Cipalla eclipsed the mark as part of a career-high 34-point outing last Saturday against Stockton, helping the Spartans pull off a 96-94 overtime victory to cap the annual Spartan Classic. York went 1-1 as the event host, dropping a 77-75 overtime battle against Salisbury last Friday despite 25 points from Cipalla.
The split brought the Spartans to 5-3 this season, with each loss against stiff competition. Stockton was ranked 22nd in NCAA Division III prior to the weekend.
Cipalla, a 6-foot-4 forward, went 14-of-18 from the field and also grabbed 12 rebounds for a double-double in Saturday’s triumph. On Friday, he had seven boards and shot 8-of-15 from the floor and 8-of-11 from the foul line. Cipalla played 83 of a possible 85 minutes in the back-to-back.
The senior is averaging 21.4 points and 7.1 rebounds in the season’s first eight games, although the scoring total is brought down by a quiet five-point output in York’s Dec. 7 rout of Delaware Valley (he’s at 23.7 ppg in the other seven contests). Saturday’s double-double was Cipalla’s second of the season and 11th as a Spartan. He has 1,029 total points in 59 games (17.4 ppg) since enrolling at York after scoring just 11 points as a freshman at Millersville.
York College named Cipalla its Athlete of the Week on Monday after the banner weekend.
Marywood also took part in the two-day event, finishing 0-2 with a 92-63 loss to Stockton and a 79-64 defeat against Salisbury. The Pacers (7-5) started Eastern York graduate Tevor Seitz in both contests, with Eastern York’s Austin Bausman and South Western’s Shilo Bivins coming off the bench. Bausman averaged 6 points, Seitz 4 and Bivins 3 in the pair of setbacks.
York College wraps its 2023 calendar with a home game against Penn State Harrisburg at 3 p.m. Monday. The Spartans will also take part in a holiday tournament at Stevens on Jan. 3 and 4 before MAC Commonwealth play begins Jan. 8.
More Spartan notes: York College men’s wrestling went 2-1 during last Saturday’s Chocolate Duals at Messiah, beating Union County College 37-18 and Sussex County CC 46-9 with a 29-16 loss to Centenary sandwiched in between. Josh Stahl (ranked No. 11 at 174), Jacob DelVecchio (125) and Derek Martin (285) all went 3-0 on the day. The Spartans are 3-2 this winter.
The women’s basketball team returns to action this weekend as part of the Daytona Beach Shootout. The 5-4 Spartans will face Fitchburg State at 4 p.m. Saturday and Lake Forest at 1 p.m. Monday.
ON THE GRIDIRON
Division I: College football’s bowl season didn’t start great for local products, as West Virginia running back Jahiem White (York High) exited the Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl at the end of the first half with a minor hamstring injury. The sophomore finished with 28 yards on seven carries and a 3-yard catch, leaving him with 967 all-purpose yards for the season (the exact same total as last year). WVU lost 42-37 to Memphis and finished 6-7. White should be a centerpiece for the Mountaineers in 2025 with fellow running backs CJ Donaldson and Jaylen Anderson transferring out of the program.
Pittsburgh wide receiver Kenny Johnson (Dallastown) is set to conclude his sophomore season with the Panthers competing in the GameAbove Sports Bowl against Toledo at 2 p.m. Thursday in Detroit. On Friday, Georgia Tech wideout Abdul Janneh Jr. (New Oxford) will compete in the Birmingham Bowl at 3:30 p.m. against Vanderbilt.
Former Central York and Penn State quarterback Beau Pribula, meanwhile, reportedly committed to Missouri via the transfer portal on Sunday night. Subsequent reports have indicated his NIL package with the Tigers will pay him $1.5 million in 2025, making him the latest power-conference quarterback to cash in on an exploding and unregulated market. Stay tuned to The York Dispatch for continuing coverage of Pribula’s move.
Division II: New Oxford graduate and Slippery Rock quarterback Brayden Long finished sixth in voting for the Harlon Hill Trophy, the highest individual honor in D-II football. Long, who led The Rock to the NCAA semifinals as a senior, was previously fifth in last year’s voting. He is the only two-time finalist in program history. Central Missouri quarterback Zach Zebrowski was announced as the award’s repeat winner on Friday.
Long also earned Don Hansen Football Gazette All-America honors last Friday, receiving an honorable mention at quarterback. It’s his only recognition thus far among the five major D-II All-America teams, with the D2football.com Elite 100 still to be announced.
Division III: Susquehanna’s run to the NCAA semifinals was halted by No. 1-ranked North Central College in 66-0 fashion last Saturday in Naperville, Illinois. The River Hawks finished their season 12-2, with three playoff wins by a single possession apiece.
Senior running back D.K. Wyche (York Catholic) appeared on the participation report Saturday, with sophomore lineman Jacob Miller (Kennard-Dale) seeing previous playoff action. The Susquehanna roster also included senior defensive end Bailey Blaschak (Northern York), junior lineman Ethan Watkins (New Oxford) and sophomore lineman Connor Main (New Oxford).
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