SWARTHMORE, Pa.-The Swarthmore College men's basketball team upped its win total to 19 on Saturday, holding off the Haverford College Fords 76-65 in the regular season finale. With the win, Swarthmore (19-6, 13-5 Centennial) secured the No. 2 seed in the Centennial Conference Tournament. The Garnet will face the No. 3 seed Dickinson College Red Devils at tournament-host Franklin & Marshall College on Friday.
Sophomore Robbie Walsh posted a career-high 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the floor and an 8-for-8 afternoon from the free-throw line. Walsh collected his sixth double-double of the year by snagging 10 rebounds as well. He also had a highlight-reel block in the first half, smacking a Haverford layup off the backboard. Three other Garnet players contributed double-digit points. Matt Brennan, who went 3-for-5 from 3-point range, finished with 11. Shane Loeffler and Zack Yonda each added 10.
The Garnet pulled to a seven-point lead midway toward the end of the first half, but Haverford hung in and trailed by just one going into halftime after Walt Plumlee hit a 3-pointer with 36 ticks left.
Haverford scored the first basket of the second half and a follow-up layup gave the Fords their largest lead. Swarthmore's Yonda knocked down a 3-pointer to even the game at 35-35 and sparked a quick 10-0 rally. Cam Wiley capped off the run with a trey of his own. After shooting 25 percent from 3-point range and 37.9 percent overall in the first, Swarthmore turned things around in the second half with a 45.5 percent showing from beyond the arc and 51.6 percent output overall.
Swarthmore's lead slipped to one with 6:44 to go, but a three by Brennan followed by two layups from Walsh gave the Garnet some more breathing room. A personal foul and a technical foul by Haverford with two minutes to go led to three Swarthmore free-throws and the Garnet's biggest lead, 14 points, 74-60.
The Garnet honored seniors Brandon Patton, Sean Thaxter and Shane Loeffler prior to the game and also welcomed back to campus the 1990-91 team that had the highest win total in a season prior to this year's growing mark.
