SWARTHMORE, Pa.—No. 1 Swarthmore College Men's Basketball found itself down by 14 points against visiting Washington College midway through the first half of Tuesday's Centennial Conference opener, but the gap was not insurmountable. Washington's statistically improbable hot streak to open the game was unsustainable, and Swarthmore simply continued to play its brand of basketball and erased the deficit.
The Garnet improved to 5-0 (1-0 Centennial) while downing the Shoremen 68-58.
Senior forward Nate Shafer personified Swarthmore's resiliency on Tuesday. After going 0-for-5 from the floor in the first half, he finished as the team's leading scorer with 14 points. He snagged nine rebounds and added a block, an assist and a steal.
Zac O'Dell collected his fourth double-double on the year with 12 points and 11 rebounds. O'Dell is averaging a team leading 11 rebounds per game and is second on the team in scoring with 12.6 points a night.
George Visconti tallied up 10 points and five boards, and Colin Shaw pitched in eight points and eight rebounds.
Washington jumped ahead with a 15-0 run in the first half and led 22-8 with 11:35 to play. Point guard Ryan Ingram provided Swarthmore with a jolt by scoring five straight points, including Swarthmore's first 3-pointer of the game with 10:15 on the clock.
The Garnet began to claw back and a 3-point play by O'Dell followed by another O'Dell layup pulled Swarthmore within single digits with 5:35 left in the period.
When Justin Tucker sank a triple from the corner with 4:02 to go, it brought Swarthmore within six, making it a two possession game. O'Dell pulled Swarthmore within three with 1:08 left before the half, but Washington closed out the half on a 5-0 spurt that included a buzzer-beating three from the wing.
Swarthmore's first basket in the second half came with 17:36 to go with an electrifying slam dunk in traffic by Shafer. Shafer followed up with another jam with 15:15 to play.
The Garnet went on a 12-0 run starting with a Shafer layup at 14:04 and finally regained the lead with 11 minutes left. Swarthmore held Washington without a field goal for nearly 11 minutes of the second half.
Swarthmore's lead jumped to double-digits with 1:53 to play after a deep 3-pointer from Harkins, and the Garnet never looked back.
The Garnet return to the court on Sunday at 3 p.m. when they host Arcadia University.
