Mules Plow Past Garnet
ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- Hometown Muhlenberg had four players hit double figures in scoring on the way to an 80-62 win over Swarthmore in Centennial men's basketball action on a snowy Wednesday night in eastern Pennsylvania.
Mule sophomore Obi Nwizugbo (Roselle, N.J. / Union Catholic) led Muhlenberg with 14 points while juniors Mike Bernardini (Langhorne, Pa. / George School) and Darrell Roth (Nazareth, Pa. / Nazareth) added 13 points. Sophomore Ryan Foster contributed (Newtown, Pa. / Council Rock North) 13 points in just 16 minutes for the Mules (3-3 overall, 2-1 CC).
The game hinged on the Muhlenberg’s 20 second-chance points, generated by a 47-34 advantage on the glass. Up nine points at half, the Mules bolted out of the locker room for six straight points, capped by a dunk by Ryan Foster at 17:29 (Muhlenberg led 50-35 at this point).
Swarthmore senior center Ian McCormick (Seattle, Wash. / University Prep), saddled with foul trouble in the first half, dropped in eight points over the next eleven minutes. A pair of free throws by senior guard Noam Fliegelman (Philadelphia, Pa. / Central) at the 6:44 mark brought Swarthmore within seven, 63-56.
The Mules responded turned up an offensive rebound on the next possession and then Roth sank one of his two triples on the evening to put the home team back up by ten points. Swarthmore would get as close as nine points but Muhlenberg closed the evening with a 12-3 run for its second consecutive win.
McCormick led Swarthmore (2-4 overall, 0-3 CC) with 16 points and seven rebounds while classmate Steve Wolf (Philadelphia, Pa. / Father Judge) chipped in 10 points and five rebounds.
Fliegelman finished with nine points and five rebounds while classmate Matt Kurman (Rockville, Md. / Walter Johnson) added eight points and a game-high five assists. Kurman (pictured above) leads the Garnet with 27 dimes this season (a CC-best 4.5 per game), pushing his career-total to 214, the seventh-most in school history.
McCormick’s seven rebounds pushed him over 600 for his career—he is just the fifth Swarthmore male and the 18th Centennial player to pass the milestone. The senior also posted three blocks to move within two of the school record (148 held by Rob Ruffin ’92).
The Garnet were hot from beyond the arc early, knocking down three of their first four attempts from three-point land. Wolf scored three of his six first-half points on a triple at 14:42 to put Swarthmore ahead 12-7.
The Mules burned a 30-second timeout and came out pounding the offensive backboards, generating a 10-0 run over the next 3:24. Muhlenberg’s Tim Murray rebounded a Nwizugbo miss (one of his team-high five offensive rebounds) and scored the goal to put the home team out front 17-12 at 11:18. McCormick put an end to the run with a lay-up of his own at the other end.
Muhlenberg’s prowess on the glass—the Mules out-rebounded Swarthmore 24-16 in the first 20 minutes—and Swarthmore’s foul trouble (McCormick picked up his third foul with 2:51 left in the first half) kept the Mules ahead at halftime. Nwizugbo canned a jumper just before the buzzer to send Muhlenberg to the locker room with a 44-35 lead. Bernardini led all scorers with nine points on two-of-four shooting from three-point land.
The Garnet return to Tarble Pavilion on Saturday for just their second home game in 2007-08—the Swarthmore men will go 21 days since they last enjoyed home court. The Ursinus Bears (5-1 overall, 3-0 CC) and 2006-07 Centennial Player of the Year Nick Shattuck come to campus for a 2:00 p.m. Centennial tilt; the Bears have won 20 consecutive contests between the two schools and hold an 80-66 lead in the overall series that dates back to 1919. Swarthmore’s last win over the Bears (79-70) came on Feb. 8, 1997 at the Palestra on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania.