SWARTHMORE, Pa.—Led by 26 points from sophomore point guard Cam Wiley, Swarthmore College Men's Basketball earned a home Centennial Conference win against local rival Haverford College on Wednesday night. The Swarthmore Garnet out-scored the visiting Fords by 16 points in the second period en route to an 89-68 win.
The win was much needed for the Garnet (13-3, 7-2 Centennial) after suffering back-to-back conference losses last week. Haverford (2-14, 1-8) kept it close through the first half but couldn't hang with the Garnet in the second.
For Wiley, career-high 26 points came on a remarkable 11-for-15 (73.3 percent) shooting night from the floor. Wiley hit 4-of-5 attempted 3-pointers, including two from way behind the 3-point line, one of which beat the buzzer at the end of the first half.
Junior forward Andrew Kaufmann, playing in his eighth game of the season, provided a boost for the Garnet off the bench. Kaufmann scored eight points and grabbed a game-high 17 rebounds. Haverford, meanwhile, as a team only pulled down 21 rebounds through the entire contest. Swarthmore dominated the glass, corralling 57 rebounds, 22 on the offensive side alone.
Zack Yonda added a season-high 20 points, going 4-for-8 from the floor and then a perfect 11-for-11 from the free-throw line.
Swarthmore scored 23 points from the stripe, missing eight attempts. From the floor, Swarthmore shot an even 50 percent (30-for-60). The Garnet held Haverford to 37.9 percent shooting. Fords' guard Khalil Games scored a team-high 23 points on 10-of-20 shooting.
With five minutes remaining in the first half, Swarthmore led by 12. Haverford then went on an 8-0 run and eventually pulled within two points with four seconds left. Wiley helped stem the tide by dribbling across half court and pulling up for a contested 3-pointer six feet beyond the arc and sinking it at the buzzer.
Swarthmore regained a double-digit lead with 15:46 to play in the second half. Wiley sparked a quick 11-0 run that kept Swarthmore in the driver's seat. Back-to-back layups from Chris Bourne elevated Swarthmore's lead to 19 with 10:48 to go.
With 1:24 to play, the Garnet lead peaked at 24 when Yonda soared for a fastbreak dunk after stealing the ball on the defensive end.
Swarthmore continues play on Saturday at Dickinson College (6-3 Centennial) a rematch of a wild overtime game played at Swarthmore in December in which the Garnet prevailed.
