SWARTHMORE, Pa.—No. 12 Swarthmore College Men's Basketball got the job done on Wednesday night, defeating the Haverford College Fords at home 81-69.
After other results from around the league Wednesday, Swarthmore, 14-3 in Centennial Conference play, remains in a three-way tie with Johns Hopkins University and Franklin & Marshall College for first place in the conference standings. Ursinus College gave Swarthmore a potential assist in the tie-breaking scenarios on Wednesday by beating Muhlenberg College. More information about the potential scenarios will be released later.
Five players reached double figures in scoring for Swarthmore with Zack Yonda scoring a team-high 17 points. Freshman Conor Harkins hit five 3-pointers to score 15 points. Nate Shafer did his work in the interior and scored 15 points to go along with 10 rebounds and three blocks, and fellow sophomore Zac O'Dell also had a double-double off of 13 points and 11 rebounds. O'Dell also had two blocks and two steals.
Jim Lammers registered 10 points and a pair of assists.
Overall the Garnet shot 52.6 percent from the floor, and were an especially hot 65.4 percent from the floor in the second half.
In the rebound column, Swarthmore won that battle 40-30.
Kahlil Garnes led Haverford with 26 points and scored 18 of his points from 3-point range.
Swarthmore trailed in the beginning after Haverford jumped out to an 8-0 lead. The Garnet quickly righted the ship to tie the game at 10-10.
Lammers hit a 3-pointer to go up by six points with 7:22 left in the first, but Haverford crawled back and led by three with 5:40 to go. Swarthmore then went on an 11-0 run and led by five at halftime.
The Garnet led for the entire second half; although, Haverford did approach within two points with 13 minutes left. Swarthmore fought off the Haverford rally and led by 10 or more points for the final six minutes.
Swarthmore hosts Franklin & Marshall College on Saturday at 1 p.m. with a chance to host the Centennial Conference Tournament on the line.
