Defense, Balanced Scoring Leads Garnet Past McDaniel 60-48
SWARTHMORE, Pa. - Don't look now, but the Swarthmore College men's basketball team (5-13, 4-7) is proving itself to be one of the toughest opponents in the Centennial Conference this season.
Freshman Will Gates scored a game-high 17 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for his second-consecutive double-double, senior captain Matt Allen scored a season-high 14 points and added five assists and freshman Eugene Prymak scored 10 points - including eight crucial points in the second half - as the Garnet defeated McDaniel 60-48 on Wednesday evening from Tarble Pavilion.
Allen scored a season-high 14 points in Swarthmore's win over McDaniel.
The stifling Garnet zone defense proved to be the difference once again, holding the Green Terror (8-9, 4-7) to opponent season lows in points (48) and shooting percentage (33.3 percent), while limiting the Centennial's second-best three-point shooting team to just 4-of-19 shooting from behind the arc.
The win is the Garnet's second-consecutive victory and its third straight win at Tarble Pavilion - where Swat is 4-3 on the season.
Along with their huge performances in win, Gates, Allen and Prymak also got it done from the line - combining to shoot 10-for-10 from the stripe. As a team, Swat was 14-of-18 from the free-throw line.
Down 25-24 to open the second half, the Garnet came out of the locker room playing inspired ball, outscoring the Green Terror 13-3 over the first seven minutes of the half, as a jumper from Allen gave Swat a 37-28 lead with 13:11 left to play in the game.
Down nine and with game seemingly slipping out of reach, the Green Terror responded, finally finding some success from behind the arc. Thanks to back-to-back three-pointers from Max Keenan and Miguel Jones, McDaniel answered Swat's opening rally with a 12-2 run over a six-minute span, taking back the lead at 40-39 with 7:12 left to play in the game.
But that would be the last time the Green Terror would ever see the lead.
Allen quickly brought the Garnet back in front with a breakaway lay-up set up from a Ryan Carmichael steal, putting Swarthmore ahead 41-40.
A pair of free-throws from Prymak extended the lead to 43-40, before Gates provided the dagger yet again for the Garnet. Just like he did in the win over Gettysburg, Gates connected on a contested three-pointer from the right wing to put the Garnet in the Garnet in complete control of the game. Against the Green Terror, the three came at the 4:24 mark, giving Swat a 46-40 lead it would never relinquish.
From there, the Garnet defense kept the Green Terror in check - holding McDaniel to just 1-of-6 from three in the final two minutes - while sealing the game with 12-of-14 shooting at the free-throw line in the game's final two minutes.
Marcus Dyson led McDaniel with 14 points - 10 of which came in the first half - while Jones added 10 points.
The win snaps Swarthmore's four-game losing streak to McDaniel and marks Swat's first win in the series since 2007.
Freshman Jordan Martinez added nine points and six rebounds.
With his one block, junior Sam Lacy moved into sole possession of fourth place in career blocks at Swarthmore (68).
The Garnet will look to make it three-straight wins when it travels to No. 17 Franklin & Marshall on Saturday. Action is slated to begin at 4:00 p.m.