SWARTHMORE, Pa.—It took overtime to settle Tuesday evening's Centennial Conference showdown between the No. 16 Swarthmore College Garnet and the McDaniel College Green Terror, but the Garnet separated themselves from the visitors in the extra time, winning 65-60.
The two teams slogged through the low-scoring affair with Swarthmore (12-1, 6-0 Centennial) finally pulling away in overtime thanks to clutch play from big man
Robbie Walsh. Walsh, a junior center, posted six points, five rebounds, an assist and a block in the extra period. He finished tied for the game-high with 16 points and nearly had the double-double after pulling down nine rebounds.
Cam Wiley also pumped in 16 points for Swarthmore and tallied four rebounds, four assists, two steals and one block.
Zack Yonda contributed a dozen points and
Sam Lebryk added 11 points.
Defensively, Swarthmore kept McDaniel (6-7, 2-4 Centennial) to 34.3 percent shooting from the floor. Swarthmore is the top team in all of Division III this season in defensive field goal percentage, holding opponents to a 34.6 percent clip. The Garnet also blocked seven shots. Freshman
Nate Shafer had a team-high three rejections.
The Garnet claimed a 38-37 advantage in rebounding.
Swarthmore led by five early in the first half but found themselves down by two at the break. The Garnet trailed by as many as nine points five minutes into the second half. However, the Garnet bolted to a 16-2 run over the next eight minutes to overtake the Green Terror. The run started with a trey from Lebryk and ended with one from Wiley.
McDaniel hung around and the Green Terror's Josh McWilliams knocked down a three-pointer with 10 seconds left in regulation to even the count at 52-52, forcing overtime.
The Garnet broke free of the Green Terror in overtime, out-scoring them 13-8. Walsh started the period by grabbing a tough rebound off his own missed shot and finishing the put-back under the hood. Walsh later found
Chris Bourne slicing through the lane with a crisp pass for an easy layup to put Swarthmore ahead 58-55. Walsh grabbed another offensive board and put it home for two with 3:09 to play, giving Swarthmore the 60-55 advantage. Free throws from Lebryk and Wiley later gave Swarthmore a six-point lead, and Walsh locked up the contest with a defensive rebound and a pair of made free throws with five seconds to go.
Swarthmore travels to Johns Hopkins University on Thursday night and then returns home to host last season's conference champion Franklin & Marshall College on Saturday.
