McPherson, KAN. - York College had to fight hard all night after digging themselves an early hole in Monday night's matchup at McPherson College. The Panthers clawed back late in the game to take a two-point lead, but were unable to score on three of their final four possessions to fall 83-80.

Demauria Haywood led the Panthers with 20 points, 18 of those came in the second half as the Panthers mounted their comeback. Webster Simeus was the only other starter to reach double figures for York as he notched a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Keyaun Hoskin and Jhi Jackson were solid off of the bench for York as they put up 15 and 14 points, respectively. Hoskin led the team with six assists, but also struggled to hold onto the ball as he was credited with eight turnovers.

York fell behind early in the game it took four minutes for Simeus to finally get the Panthers on the scoreboard. York went another four minutes before Kobe Bonner doubled the score with four points. With less than 12 minutes remaining in the half the score was 15-4 in favor of the Bulldogs.

McPherson controlled the first half as head coach Tree Burks called several timeouts to get his team under control. York started to hit some shots but it seemed that the Bulldogs had an answer for everything as they built their lead up to 17 with just under a minute remaining in the half. At the break it was 44-29 McPherson.

York got themselves back into the ballgame in the middle of the second half. After falling behind by 20 points the Panthers used a 16-4 run to pull within one point at 70-69. The game was back and forth the rest of the night with the Panthers taking their first lead as Simeus picked up an offensive rebound and made the putback to make it 74-72 with just over three minutes remaining. York would get the lead once again after Eric Lenear sank both free throws to put York up 78-76. However, the Bulldogs scored on every ensuing possession to take the game from the Panthers 83-80.

The Panthers scored 56 points in the paint, the most all season. 

York is back in action on Saturday as they host Oklahoma Wesleyan at 7:00 p.m. in the Freeman Center.