SWARTHMORE, Pa.—The battle between the 23rd and 24th ranked teams in the nation lived up to the hype on Sunday afternoon at Tarble Pavilion. No. 23 Swarthmore College Men's Basketball held off the visiting No. 24 Middlebury College Panthers 82-80 in an instant classic.

The game featured 10 lead changes and six ties and came down to the final buzzer. Swarthmore (8-2), after leading by six points at halftime, and as many as 10 points in the beginning of the second half, found itself trailing by nine points with just 4:40 seconds to go.

On the next three possessions, the Garnet responded with 3-pointers from Cam Wiley, Ryan Ingram and Conor Harkins. The Garnet made up a little ground and after Wiley drove to the hoop for two with 2:52 to play, they only trailed by three points, 76-73.

However, Middlebury (8-3) wouldn't wilt, and hit a pair of free throws on the next possession to go up by five. Swarthmore's Zac O'Dell, who had a monster game, scored a layup on each of the next three possessions and had seven of Swarthmore's final nine points.

O'Dell finished with a career-high and game-high 25 points to go along with six rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals.

His layup with 1:38 to play brought Swarthmore within three points, 80-77. O'Dell was fouled on the layup, but missed the resulting free throw. Middlebury collected the rebound, but then turned the ball over for the very first time in the second half. O'Dell came up with the steal on the baseline and went right up for the layup in what turned out to essentially be a four-point play.

With the pace of play especially frenetic in the final minute, neither team could get a basket until with just 12 seconds left, Wiley followed up his own blocked shot and finished a layup to put Swarthmore ahead 81-80. It was Swarthmore's first lead since 12:01 in the second half.

Middlebury posted a decent 3-point attempt for the win with two seconds left, but rimmed out. O'Dell rose up and pulled down the rebound amidst a crowd. O'Dell, fouled with 1.8 seconds left hit the first attempt and bricked the second attempt, giving Swarthmore an 82-80 lead. Middlebury collected that rebound, called timeout and had 1.4 seconds to get the ball the length of the court. They heaved a pass from the baseline into the front court, but their turn-around desperation 3-point attempt missed, and the Garnet survived this major test.

Four players reached double figures for Swarthmore. In addition to O'Dell's 25 points, Cam Wiley notched 17 points (plus nine rebounds and six assists), Conor Harkins collected his first career double-double off of 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Ryan Ingram finished with 10 points off the bench in his first game back since Dec. 1. Only two other players scored for Swarthmore with Nate Shafer adding nine points and Colin Shaw pitching in eight.

Middlebury's Jack Farrell scored a team-high 24 points, netting 21 of those points in the second half.

Swarthmore finished 48.4 percent from the floor and 45.5 percent form 3-point territory. The visitors shot 44.9 percent from the floor and 33.3 percent from downtown.

Swarthmore returns to action on Wednesday at Stockton University for a 7 p.m. tipoff.