COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Swarthmore College men's basketball team erased a six-point deficit in the final minute but Ursinus College dropped in the winning layup with less than one second remaining to deal the Garnet a 75-73 defeat in a thrilling Centennial Conference contest on Saturday.
 
Swarthmore had the opening bucket of the game but then had to battle as the Bears held the upper hand for more than 33 minutes of the contest. The Garnet trailed by as many as 11 but fought back to take a two-point lead with 2:37 to go. However, Ursinus tallied eight unanswered points to go in front by six (73-67) with 1:00 on the clock. Swarthmore rallied for six straight to even the score with 12 seconds left but the Bears went down the floor for the winning layup and a desperate half-court heave by the Garnet did not go.
 
Eddie Paquette reached double-digits for the fourth straight game and finished with a team-high 14 points for Swarthmore. He shot 4-of-6 from the field and grabbed eight rebounds. Caleb Aurelien totaled 13 points on 4-of-5 shooting, including a perfect 3-for-3 from downtown. Zander Jimenez and Devin Burger produced 11 and 10 points respectively. Jimenez corralled nine rebounds to lead the squad.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Aidan Godfrey started the scoring with a three for the Garnet but Ursinus responded with 10 straight points to lead 10-3 with 14:06 on the clock. Swarthmore came back with a 12-5 stretch to even the score at 15 at the 10:25 mark. All 12 points came on three-pointers by Jimenez, Paquette, Brady Kageyama, and Matt Mulvey.
 
- The Garnet led 19-18 with 8:29 left in the first half when the Bears used a 13-1 surge to go in front 31-20 with 4:16 to go. It was the largest lead of the day for the home team. Swarthmore recovered to score 10 of the next 12 and get within three (33-30) with 1:21 left. The Garnet shot 4-of-6 with a pair of threes during the run. Ursinus held onto the advantage and took a three-point cushion (38-35) into halftime.
 
- The Bears opened the second half with six consecutive points to up the margin to nine (44-35). Swarthmore answered with nine of the next 11 to cut the deficit to two (46-44) with 16:31 remaining. Aurelien scored five of the nine points as the Garnet shot 4-of-5 during the sequence. Ursinus remained in front and led 51-46 before Swarthmore netted five in a row to tie the score with 11:46 to play.
 
- The Bears rebuilt a five-point edge (58-53) but the Garnet rallied again, this time with seven in a row to take their first lead (60-58) since early in the first half. Burger recorded five points and Paquette added two. The teams went back and forth for the next four minutes before Burger drilled a three to give Swarthmore a 67-65 lead with 2:37 left.
 
- The Bears responded to the Burger three with a triple of their own to start a run of eight points that ended with a 73-67 Ursinus advantage at the 1:00 mark. After a turnover by each team, Paquette made two free throws to get the Garnet within four. Paquette was sent to the line again on Swarthmore's next possession but made just one of two foul shots and the score was 73-70 with 21 seconds to play.
 
- After a timeout, Jimenez intercepted the Bears' inbounds pass at midcourt and found Nyle Coleman in the corner for an open three-point look. The sophomore nailed the shot and tied the score at 73 with 12.4 seconds remaining. However, Ursinus drove the length of the floor to the basket and put up a layup attempt before the buzzer. The Bears got the roll off the back rim and into the hoop with 0.7 ticks to go to take a two-point edge. After a timeout by both teams, the Garnet got an open chance from just shy of the midcourt line but the desperation shot was off the mark.
 
GARNET LEADERS
Points: Paquette 14
Rebounds: Jimenez 9
Assists: Kageyama 5
Blocks: Godfrey 1
Steals: Six players 1
Threes: Aurelien 3
 
UP NEXT
Swarthmore (15-8, 7-4 Centennial) heads to rival Johns Hopkins University on Wednesday.