SWARTHMORE, Pa.--Behind 23 points by junior guard
Cam Wiley, No. 11 Swarthmore College Men's Basketball knocked off the visiting Ursinus College Bears 68-49 on Friday night. Swarthmore, the top-seed in the Centennial Conference Tournament for the second year in a row, moves on to Saturday's 7 p.m. championship game looking to defend its title. The Garnet will play Johns Hopkins University in the championship bout following the Blue Jays' dramatic 50-49 win over Franklin & Marshall College earlier Friday evening.
Wiley poured in his 23 points while going 10-for-17 from the floor. His floater in the lane was on target all night and his shooter's touch was best encapsulated by a running, leaning left-handed scoop shot from outside the paint that dropped in with 1:46 left in the game. He finished the night with six rebounds and three assists. Wiley is also chasing 1,000 career points and is just 32 points away.
Bigs
Zac O'Dell,
Nate Shafer and
Robbie Walsh combined for 31 points and each had a pair of blocks and a notable dunk. Shafer recorded the double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. O'Dell went for 11 points and six rebounds, and Walsh had nine points and seven boards. Both Shafer and Walsh had thunderous two-hand slam dunks in the second half, and O'Dell's noteworthy dunk came with about 19 minutes left in warmups. O'Dell's two-handed slam actually broke the rim leaving Swarthmore staff and maintenance to scramble to replace a part so that the game could proceed.
Swarthmore shot just shy of 50 percent from the floor in the contest, going 27-for-57 (47.4 percent) and held Ursinus to just 29.8 percent from the field. The Garnet shot worse from the free-throw line than the floor, going 8-for-19 from the stripe, a season worst 42.1 percent.
The Garnet had a clear advantage on the glass, grabbing 44 rebounds to Ursinus' 32.
The Bears only had two players in double-figures: Zach Quattro who had 17, and Ryan McTamney who scored 12.
Ursinus scored the first basket of the game, but that was the Bears' last lead of the game. Swarthmore soon led 10-4. Swarthmore's lead shrunk to two points with five minutes left in the first, but Swarthmore closed out the half strong. Freshman
Ryan Ingram hit a 3-pointer with 39 seconds left to up Swarthmore's lead to 11 at halftime.
Swarthmore's lead stayed north of 10 for most of the second half, save a two minute stretch in the middle when Ursinus got within seven.
The Garnet square off with Johns Hopkins University for the conference championship at home Saturday at 7 p.m. The two teams split their regular season matchups with each team defending their own home court.
