Box Score SWARTHMORE, Pa. - The Swarthmore College men's basketball team dropped an 83-65 contest against #11 Franklin & Marshall on Wednesday, Jan. 7 at Tarble Pavilion.
Swarthmore (6-6, CC 2-3) busted out of the gate strong and challenged the undefeated Diplomats (12-0, CC 5-0) throughout the opening minutes of the first half. The Garnet held a brief 12-10 lead at the 11:26 mark thanks to a layup from freshman
Zack Yonda. F&M responded swiftly, opening up a 20-14 lead. The visitors held Swarthmore in check until a 3-pointer from senior
Karl Barkley made the score 20-17 with 5:09 remaining in the opening half.
The Diplomats surged to the halftime buzzer, building an 11-point lead on the back of strong post play from Cedric Moune. The teams hit the locker room with F&M leading by the score of 32-21.
F&M pounced on the Garnet to begin the second half, building a 19-point lead over the home team with 16 minutes remaining in the contest. Tight defense was the order of the day for the Diplomats, who tallied 7 steals and forced 19 Swarthmore turnovers by the time it was all said and done.
Down 45-26, the Garnet proved resilient, drawing within 10 of their conference foes on a basket by Yonda with 13:16 remaining in the game. F&M responded soundly and kept their collective feet on the accelerator, garnering a 22-point lead with 2:52 remaining. The pair of Moune free throws gave the Diplomats their largest lead of the night.
Swarthmore struggled with turnovers across the board, but were buoyed by the strong performances of freshmen
Matt Brennan and Yonda. Each tallied a team- high 15 points. Brennan dished out four assists as well in his 25 minutes off the bench. Fellow freshman
Robbie Walsh chipped in a game-high 10 rebounds. The Garnet developed a nice offensive flow in the second half, shooting 56% from the field for the period.
F&M benefited from a strong team performance, finishing with four of their five starters in double figures. Moune dropped in a game-high 22 points and just missed a double-double with nine boards. He was well supported by Brandon Federici who scored 16 points of his own.
Swarthmore will look to rebound against Johns Hopkins this Saturday in a Centennial Conference matchup in Baltimore, Md. at 3 p.m.
