Garnet Grind Out Win Over Dickinson
SWARTHMORE, Pa. - Swarthmore junior forward Steve Wolf scored 21 points and freshman Matt Turner added a career-high 16 as the Garnet moved into a tie for fourth place in the Centennial Conference with a 66-60 victory over the visiting Dickinson Red Devils.
Turner was hot early, busting Dickinson's attempts to play a zone defense by setting up in the high post and knocking down open jumpers. Both teams spent much of the first half trying to get the ball inside to their respective big men—Ian McCormick '08 for Swarthmore and Tom Leszczynski for Dickinson—but the defenses were winning most of the early battles and the score was just 24-20 in favor of Swarthmore at halftime.
Wolf led with nine first-half points and seven rebounds while Turner chipped in eight points.
Turner dropped in two baskets to open the second half and McCormick sank a 17-footer from the wing as the Garnet pushed their lead to 30-24 with 17:30 to go. Dickinson responded with a 7-2 spurt to cut it to a one-point contest, 32-31, after a driving lay-up by guard Kizmahr Grell.
That would be as close as the visitors would get with Swarthmore taking advantage of frequent trips to the free throw line to keep Dickinson at bay. The Garnet took 30 free throws in the second half alone, dropping in 17 to pick up their fifth win in seven games.
It was a banner day for the Swarthmore frontcourt—Wolf, Turner, and McCormick accounted for a combined 53 of the team's 66 points. Only one Swarthmore field goal was accounted for by a Garnet guard—freshman Matt Allen drilled a three-pointer from the top of the circle at 12;24 left in the game.
Wolf was 8 of 16 from the floor and 4 of 6 at the line to hit 20-plus points for the fourth time this season. Turner shot 7 of 11 from the field to easily top his previous high of 11 points—the lanky freshman also drew a timely charge on Grell, extending his school-record total to 20 on the season.
Swarthmore senior guard Chris Casey continued his march up the all-time assists list, handing out a game-high five dimes to bring his career total to 236. Casey is now fourth all-time at Swarthmore, trailing Matt Kennel '91 who had 239 career helpers.
McCormick put together his second consecutive double-double with 16 points and a game-high 10 boards. The junior now has eight double-doubles on the season, second-best in the Conference, and extends his double-figure scoring streak to nine in a row.
Leszczynski dropped in 21 points for Dickinson (5-13, 3-9 CC) while Grell added 12 points and three assists. The Red Devils shot 19 of 20 from the line but were out-rebounded by Swarthmore 38-34.
Swarthmore has a big Centennial game on Wed., Jan. 31 when first-place Johns Hopkins comes to Tarble Pavilion for a 7:30 p.m. game. The Garnet sit in a three-way tie for fourth place in the Conference with McDaniel (5-5) and Franklin & Marshall (6-6) and are only one game behind Haverford (7-5).