Garnet Open Second Semester in Texas
GEORGETOWN, Tx. -- Swarthmore junior guard Noam Fliegelman (#22) made four free throws in the final minute as the Garnet men's basketball team held on to defeat host Southwestern University 55-53 in opening round action at the Holiday Hoops Classic Friday evening.
Garnet junior guard Matt Kurman led Swarthmore (3-6) with 10 points while freshmen Matt Turner and Sean Johnson chipped in eight points apiece as nine different Swarthmore players found the scoring column.
Swarthmore arrived in San Antonio, Texas on Wednesday afternoon following 20 days off for final examinations and the holidays. The team traveled north to Round Rock and held two practices on the campus of Southwestern University before facing the home-standing Pirates on Friday night.
Both teams were cold to start the game, combining to shoot just 4 of 18 in the first six minutes. Turner finished a feed from Kurman at 13:54 to knot the score at 4-4 and then Johnson sank a triple from the left side a minute later to extend the Garnet lead to 7-4.
Swarthmore was forced to play the majority of the first half with its top-two leading scorers; juniors Steve Wolf and Ian McCormick were saddled with foul trouble and only combined for ten minutes of action.
Two free throws by Southwestern's Matt Caplan at 10:30 cut the Swarthmore lead to 7-6 and guard Mike Powell's triple gave the hometown team its first lead of the night, 9-7, at 10:06. Garnet freshman guard Aaron Sweeney picked off a Pirates' cross-court pass and cruised in for an uncontested lay-up at 9:07 to tie the game at 9-9. It was the first points of the Los Angeles-native's young college career.
The Southwestern zone defense gave the Garnet fits in the first half; Swarthmore made just one of its first 12 attempts from beyond the arc. Senior guard Dillon McGrew put an end to the streak at 3:56, putting the Garnet ahead 16-12. The Pirates then clipped off an 8-2 run, capped by a triple from Ben Sanders, ending the half with a 20-18 lead.
The two teams struggled to get going, both shooting 27% from the floor in the first half. Turner was all over the floor for Swarthmore, drawing three charges while adding four points, three rebounds, and two steals.
The Pirates picked up six points from the free throw stripe (6 of 8) and held a 23-17 edge on the glass. Casey Gorder led Southwestern with four points and six rebounds while Caplan and Sanders contributed four points each.
Turner gave the Garnet an energetic lift at the start of the second half, picking up two steals and a fast-break lay-in at 19:00 to tie the game at 20-20. Powell answered on the next Pirates' possession, curling off a double-screen to sink his second triple of the night. Swarthmore built on Turner's energy, converting on three consecutive possessions (a Johnson triple, a Chris Casey '07 three-pointer, and a pull up jumper by Kurman) to put the Garnet ahead 26-22 at the 16:02 mark.
The Pirates' Goran Stojcic tracked down an air-ball at 13:55 and scored a basket plus a free throw as Southwestern got within 30-29. Kurman and Johnson hit back to back jumpers to push the Swarthmore lead back to five points, 34-29. Wolf's jump-hook in the lane at 12:10 gave the Garnet a nine-point lead and forced Southwestern to take a time-out.
The Swarthmore offensive surge continued; two McCormick free throws and a pair of deep Kurman triples put Swarthmore up 44-29 with nine minutes to go. The 28-11 run to start the half gave the Garnet its largest margin—15 points--after McCormick finished in traffic at 8:40 for a 46-31 Swarthmore lead.
The Pirates proceeded cut the deficit in half, 48-41, by busting out a 9-2 run over the next four minutes. Out of a Garnet time-out, Wolf sank a jumper with the shot clock winding down to push the lead back to nine, 50-41, with 3:41 remaining.
Southwestern switched to full-court pressure, stopping the Garnet on three different possessions. Pirates' Ben Schleif came up empty on a three-point try and Swarthmore ran a play for Wolf. The junior forward drew a foul and converted one of the two free throws to give the Garnet a six-point advantage with 1:25 showing on the clock. Powell put home a pair of free throws for Southwestern at 1:13 before Fliegelman broke the Pirates' press and converted two foul shots from the charity stripe.
After a Southwestern miss, an off-the-ball foul by Kurman with 45 seconds left gave the Pirates the ball back and Caplan hit a pair of free throws to cut the lead to 53-49 with 31 seconds. The Southwestern press forced another Swarthmore turn over and Schleif hit tea-drop runner in the lane with 27 seconds left to make it 53-51. Fliegelman got the ensuing in-bounds pass and streaked across half-court, wasting valuable seconds before Southwestern could committ a foul. Fleigelman put in both attempts from the line with 20 seconds left and two Pirates' attempts missed the target before Caplan's jumper at the buzzer sounded made the final margin.
The Swarthmore offense showed efficiency in the second half, hitting for 50% (12 of 24) from the floor and 82% (9 of 11) from the free throw line. The Garnet defense held the Pirates to 28% shooting on the night and picked up a season-high nine blocks (a career-high six by McCormick).
Caplain and Gorder led Southwestern (5-5) with 12 points apiece with Gorder collecting a game-high 11 rebounds. Powell added 11 points and two steals for the Pirates.
The Garnet (CC) will take on Trinity (TX) tomorrow night at 6:00 p.m. in second round action of the Southwestern Classic--Trinity defeated Pitt-Greensburg 82-71 in earlier action. Swarthmore returns home on January 3 for a 7:00 p.m. non-conference game at Philadelphia Bible and will resume Centennial Conference action on January 6 at Dickinson.