Mules Shoot Down Swarthmore
ALLENTOWN, Pa. - Four Swarthmore players scored in double figures as the Garnet dropped a 78-65 decision at Muhlenberg in Centennial Conference men's basketball action Wednesday night.
Garnet junior Ian McCormick led the team with 17 points while classmate Matt Kurman added 12 points. Junior forward Steve Wolf and freshman guard Matt Allen added 11 points apiece for Swarthmore (10-12 overall, 7-8 CC).
Swarthmore senior point guard Chris Casey handed out eight assists, one short of career-high, with no turnovers in 35 minutes. Casey also tied his career-high of 82 helpers in one season, handing out his 250th dime with 9:29 left in the second half--he is only the third Garnet player (16th in the Centennial) to accumulate 250 assists, joining Jacob Letendre '04 (school-record 394) and Colin Convey '97 (283).
The Garnet were clicking early, jumping out to an 8-2 lead after Kurman found Matt Turner '10 for a lay-up at 16:57. Wolf's old-fashion three-point play put Swarthmore up 13-7 at the 15:04 mark before the hometown Mules put together a 23-9 run to assume a 30-22 advantage with 5:51 left in the half. Ryan Foster's steal and ensuing jumper capped the run for Muhlenberg.
A lay-up by McCormick and another three-point play by Wolf would bring Swarthmore within three, 30-27, with 4:11 left in the half. Unfortunately, the Mules held Swarthmore to just one field goal, a slick offensive rebound put-back by sophomore forward Raul Ordonez, taking a 39-30 lead into the intermission.
Muhlenberg drilled six three-pointers in the first half and were led by
The Garnet came out firing at the start of the second half getting lay-ups from McCormick and Wolf, plus a triple from Casey, to cut the Mules' lead to 41-37 just one minute in.
Muhlenberg countered with four free throws and a triple from Mike Bernardini to take back the nine-point advantage, 48-39, with 16:11 to play.
Swarthmore got the deficit to four on two more occasions--after a Matt Allen '10 three-pointer at 14:18 and a McCormick lay-up at 11:10. Muhlenberg pushed its lead to 12 following another Bernardini triple at 5:17 and put the game away in the final five minutes with 11 of 12 shooting from the line.
Bernardini led all scorers with 21 points while teammate Tom Scott added 20 points and six rebounds
Swarthmore looks to re-group at Gettysburg this Saturday, Feb. 10 at 2:00 p.m.