Fords Down Garnet 70-58
HAVERFORD, Pa. - Haverford's Sam Permutt scored 18 points and pulled down 14 rebounds while three other Fords reached double-figures as homestanding Haverford (5-10, 3-6) used a 12-1 run early in second half to defeat the Swarthmore College men's basketball team 70-58 on Wednesday evening in Centennial Conference action.
Freshman Will Gates scored 17 points to lead the Garnet (3-13, 2-7) - his seventh consecutive game as the Garnet's leading scorer - while senior captain Matt Allen and freshman Jordan Martinez each scored 11 points.
Senior captain Matt Allen scored 11 points for the Garnet.
The Fords dominated the Garnet in the post - outscoring Swat 30-14 in the paint while owning a 39-33 rebounding advantage. Haverford shot 48 percent for the game while Swat shot just 35 percent.
In front of the raucous crowd of Garnet and Ford fans at Gooding Arena, Swarthmore built an early lead thanks to some hot perimeter shooting to start the game. Gates scored 11 points in the first 10 minutes of play to lead the Garnet offense in the first half, which connected on over 50 percent of its shots in the first 15 minutes. A three-pointer from Allen with 6:26 remaining in the first half gave the Garnet its largest lead at 25-18.
But from that point on, the momentum shifted in the favor of the Fords. The Garnet offense went ice cold, scoring only two more points the remainder of the half, while the Fords started heating up, finishing the half on a 14-2 run. A three-pointer from Lekan O'Nicholson as time expired gave the Fords a 32-27 lead heading into the half.
The Garnet offense looked as if it was coming back to life to start the second half, with Swat connecting on four of its first six shots. Allen's second three of the game cut the Fords lead to 40-37 with 14:33 left to play. But from that point on, the Garnet would not score another field goal for the next seven minutes of play, as the Fords used a 12-1 run to extend the lead into double-digits. A three from Haverford's Matt Palmer gave the Fords their largest lead of the game at 52-38 with 10:31 left to play.
Down double-figures, the Garnet continued to fight until the final whistle. A three-pointer by Gates and a lay-up from junior Sam Lacy got cut the Haverford lead to 54-48 with 3:52 left to play in the game, but the Fords quickly responded with a 6-0 run, extending the lead back to 12 points and ending any Garnet thoughts of a comeback. The Fords finished with a 70-58 win.
Gates finished a perfect seven-of-seven from the free-throw line. Junior Ryan Carmichael finished with nine points and a season-high nine rebounds.
Doug Edlemen (13), Bo Fridell (12) and Goldberg (11) all scored in double figures to lead the balanced Haverford scoring attack.
Swarthmore now leads the all-time series with Haverford 90-67.
The Garnet return to action on Saturday when defending Centennial Conference champion Gettysburg comes to Tarble Pavilion. Action is slated to begin at 4:00 p.m.