Garnet Surge Past Mules
SWARTHMORE, Pa. -- Swarthmore broke open a tight game with a 21-5 second-half run, earning a 72-57 Centennial Conference win over the visiting Muhlenberg Mules in Tarble Pavilion Wednesday night.
The Mules (10-12, 8-7 CC) led 44-39 with 15:34 to play when Garnet senior center Ian McCormick (Seattle, Wa. / University Prep), who would go on to score 13 points during the run, kicked it off with a lay-up. Another McCormick lay-up gave the Garnet (6-16, 2-13 CC) a 47-46 lead with 13 minutes left, and the senior’s three-pointer banked in at 8:47 to increase the lead to eight, igniting the Tarble Pavilion crowd. Senior guard Matt Kurman (Rockville, Md. / Walter Johnson) also came up with clutch shooting, going 2-for-3 from beyond the arc in the second half.
Also contributing heavily to the second half surge was the glasswork of junior forward Raul Ordonez (Miami, Fl. / Belen Jesuit Prep) and the hustle of freshman forward Sam Lacy (Jericho, Vt. / Mansfield Union). Ordonez (pictured left) grabbed 11 boards in the second half (a career-high 13 on the game), leading the Garnet to a 26-10 rebounding edge. Lacy was all over the floor on the defensive end, grabbing three rebounds, a steal while making numerous deflections during the decisive run.
After a lackluster performance from the line in the first half, the Garnet shot 12-for-17 from the stripe in the second period, including 5 of 6 in the final minutes to wrap up the Conference win.
McCormick led all scorers with 29 points, shooting a strong 11-19 from the floor and topped the rebounding list with 15. Freshman swingman Ryan Carmichael (Portland, Me. / Portland) added nine points while Kurman and Ordonez contributed eight each.
The Mules got 14 points from Ryan Foster (Newtown, Pa. / Council Rock North) and 11 from Mike Bernadini (Langhorne, Pa. / George School). Peter Barnes (Haddonfield, N.J. / Haddonfield Memorial) grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds while battling foul trouble.
Swarthmore guards Kurman, Noam Fliegelman ’08 (Philadelphia, Pa. / Central High), and Matt Allen ’10 (Seattle, Wa. / Lakeside) took care of the basketball all night, recording just three turnovers in 77 total minutes of action. As a team, the Garnet committed just 13 turnovers, their second-lowest total of the year, while forcing 20 on the defensive end.
Muhlenberg took a 33-31 lead into the locker room after having led by as many as nine early on.
McCormick took what the defense gave on offense and controlled the defensive glass on his way to game-high first-half totals of 13 points and eight rebounds. The rest of the Garnet struggled from the field in the first period, hitting just 5 of 22 shots.
The Mules opened up a 31-22 lead with 4:48 to go in the half before the Garnet came back with a 9-0 run. Carmichael helped the cause with a pair of triples. For Muhlenberg, Foster also nailed a pair from the beyond the arc on his way en route to a team-high nine points.
With three games to go, the Garnet will look to build on this strong performance and finish the season strong. Next up is a trip to Gettysburg, Pa. on Saturday, February 16 for a 1:00 p.m. Centennial match-up.