Swarthmore Edged In Barn-Burner
CHESTERTOWN, Md. - Swarthmore, led by sophomore Steve Wolf's career-high 37 points, fought back from an 11-point second half deficit only to fall to Washington (Md.) 92-88 in Centennial action on Wednesday night.
Jonathan Webb led the Shoremen (12-12, 10-7 CC) with 22 points while guard Kyle Stem added 19 points.
The Shoremen had a hot-hand early on, sinking 6-of-12 (50%) from behind the three-point in the first half. Washington also made half of its attempts from the field, 13-of-26 while building a 43-32 lead at the intermission.
Garnet forward Steve Wolf led all scorers at the half with 16 points while Shoremen guard Kyle Stem led his squad with 15 points, including three triples.
Washington held Swarthmore at bay for much of the second half as both squads hit high percentages from the field.
The Garnet made their move at the six-minute mark and the Shoremen up 78-67. Sophomore forward Ian McCormick, saddled with foul trouble for much of the game, made his way back on to the floor to spark the Garnet. McCormick got the Swarthmore comeback started with a lay-up at 6:01 and the Garnet ran off the next seven points to cut the Washington lead to 78-76. Wolf capped off the scoring binge with a big dunk, finishing off a fast break ignited by a steal by sophomore guard Matt Kurman.
Stem answered with a lay-up for Washington, yet Wolf answered with back-to-back jumpers to tie the game at 80-80 with 4:13 left in the game. The Garnet took their first lead of the night thirty seconds later as McCormick sank a pair from the free throw line. Unfortunately for Swarthmore, McCormick fouled out on the very next play with 11 points on the night.
The Shoremen extended the lead back to three, 85-82, on a jumper by forward Jonathan Webb at 2:57, but Wolf had the answer once again, drilling a jumper to cut the lead to one.
Washington pushed the lead to 87-84 with 1:50 left following a pair of free throws by Joey Breslin. Wolf made his way to rim once again, dropping in a lay-up at 1:35 to bring the Garnet within one.
Breslin hit one-of-two at the line to make the score 88-86 Shoremen and the Garnet came up empty on the next trip down the floor. Swarthmore fouled Stem and the senior gave the Garnet life by missing both attempts from the charity stripe.
Swarthmore was unable to connect on its next offensive possession and Webb put the Shoremen up four, 90-86, with a pair of made free throws with 13 seconds left in the game.
Kurman streaked up the court for a lay-up to put the Garnet within two with six seconds remaining. Both teams traded time-outs looking to set-up for the crucial inbounds play. The Shoremen, inbounding underneath their own basketb caught Swarthmore off-guard and sent freshman guard Tim Kohlrus up-court. Webb hit Kohlrus on the run and the freshman scored the goal and got fouled to seal the victory for Washington.
Both teams efficiently shot the ball in the second half; Swarthmore got back in the game by hitting 52.8% while the Shoremen upped the ante with a 56.7 shooting percentage. Much of the contest was spent at the free throw line as the two teams combined for 56 fouls; the Garnet nailed 24-of-31 (77.4%) while the Shoremen checked in with a 24-of-37 (64.9%) performance.
Wolf was hard to contain all night, shooting 13-of-24 from the floor and 10-of-11 from line for 37 points, the highest total in the Centennial this season. This is the second time Wolf has topped the 30-point mark; the sophomore nailed 32 points vs. Philadelphia Biblical on January 5. It is also the most scored by a Garnet player since assistant coach Matt Gustafson dropped in 37 point at Drew on November 23, 2004.
Wolf grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the season.
Garnet point guard Chris Casey also enjoyed a banner night, dropping in a career-high 17 points on 5-of-7 shoooting from the floor and 6-of-7 from the line.
Swarthmore concludes the 2005-06 season this Saturday, February 18 when it hosts rival Haverford at 4:00 p.m. The Garnet will honor senior Eric Williams before attempting to complete a season-sweep of the Fords. Swarthmore defeated Haverford 60-43 on January 18.