Shoremen Navigate Comeback Win
SWARTHMORE, Pa. -- The Washington College Shoremen overcame an early 18-point deficit and held on down the stretch to defeat Swarthmore 65-62 last night in Tarble Pavilion.
Swarthmore could do little wrong early in the contest and jumped out to a 27-9 lead. The Garnet hit their first six shots and 12 of their first 17 while holding the Shoremen to just 3-20 from the floor in the first 12 minutes of play. McCormick led the early effort with eight points. The lead was still 16 with 4:09 remaining, but then the Shoreman full-court press began to pay dividends. Six Garnet turnovers in the final 3:41 allowed Washington to pull within nine at 35-26 at the break.
Steve Wolf '08 got the Garnet off to a good start in the second half, tipping in a McCormick miss on the team's first possession, but this time it was the visitors who were hot. Washington nailed their first five field goals and four free throws and took their first lead, 41-40, on a Joey Breslin layup with 16:53 remaining. Kyle Stem, ranked fourth in the Centennial Conference with 16.4 ppg was held scoreless in the first half. Stem came out firing in the second half, hitting a pair of deep threes during the early run. Garnet guard Chris Casey '07 came right back with a layup at the other end and the game evolved into a dogfight.
Trailing by four with 13 minutes to go, Swarthmore went on an 8-0 run, capped by a Noam Fliegelman '08 layup, and soon afterwards took its largest lead of the half at 60-55.
As time wound down, though, the Shoremen started to double-team McCormick in the post and the Garnet, unable to adjust, were held scoreless for nearly four minutes. Washington re-took the lead for good on another Breslin layup with 3:22 remaining and, a minute later, Shoreman forward Jonathan Webb hit a pair from the stripe to extend the lead to three.
Garnet guard Matt Kurman '08 answered with a mid-range jumper to cut the lead to one. The Garnet got the defensive stop they needed, but were unable to rebound Travis Moore's missed jumper and were forced to foul.
Webb made two more from the line, and the Garnet, trailing by three, called timeout with 21 seconds remaining. Swarthmore got the shot they wanted, an open three-pointer for Dillon McGrew '07, but the shot clanged off the rim. Webb finally missed two free throws to give the Garnet one last chance, but Kurman's desperation three-pointer found nothing but air.
Washington shot only 32.8% for the game to the Garnet's 50%, but compensated by winning the battle of the turnovers, 19-8. The Shoremen also shot 27 free throws to the Garnet's two.
Ian McCormick led the Garnet with 24 points, getting help from Kurman (14) and Fliegelman (10). Wolf grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds before fouling out late in the second half; McCormick had eight boards.
Webb led the Shoremen (9-9, 7-4 CC) with 20 points and eight rebounds.
The Garnet (4-14, 3-8 CC) will hit the road for their next three contests, starting with Saturday's 2:00 p.m. match-up with Dickinson in Carlisle, Pa.