SWARTHMORE, Pa. – The Swarthmore College men's basketball team finished the regular season with a 103-97 triumph against Haverford College on Saturday. The Garnet end the conference schedule with a 9-4 mark.
The game was a physical battle as the two teams combined for 84 free throw attempts. The Garnet shot an impressive 82 percent on their 50 foul shots, accounting for 41 of their points. Swarthmore's 41 free throws made was their most based on available records back to the 2011-12 season and the Garnet's 103 points was their highest total since 2019.
Matt Mulvey made the most of his Senior Day, leading Swarthmore with 21 points and four three-pointers. He was honored prior to the contest along with
Aidan Godfrey, who grabbed eight rebounds.
Brady Kageyama tallied a career-high 19 points while
Eddie Paquette registered his second double-double of the season with 19 points and 13 rebounds.
Cal Hanson and
Zander Jimenez scored 13 points each with Jimenez adding eight boards and four assists.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Garnet scored eight of the game's first 11 points for the early lead.
Caleb Aurelien and Hanson hit back-to-back threes to put an exclamation point on the start. However, the Fords answered with a 12-0 run to go ahead 15-8 with 13:30 remaining. Haverford made all four of its shot attempts during the surge, with two coming from beyond the arc.
- Swarthmore had a 10-2 stretch to take a one-point edge (20-19) but the Fords followed with seven straight to regain the advantage (26-20) with 8:53 on the clock. The score was 30-25 when the Garnet began a 26-7 rally to close the half. Swarthmore shot 8-of-14 with five threes during the sequence. Mulvey was the top scorer with 11 points and the Garnet took a 51-37 lead into the break.
- After a Haverford layup to start the second half, the Garnet scored 10 of the next 12 to push the margin to 20 (61-41) with 17:22 to go. Kageyama sparked the run with back-to-back threes. The Fords cut the deficit to 14 (61-47) but a 10-0 run by Swarthmore upped the difference to 24 (71-47).
- The Garnet had their largest lead of the game (83-58) at the 8:35 mark. Haverford then got back in the game with an 18-3 rally and closed the gap to 10 (86-76) with 4:13 to play. However, the Fords kept giving Swarthmore free points down the stretch as the Garnet went 17-for-20 from the stripe to hold on for the win.
GARNET LEADERS
Points: Mulvey 21
Rebounds: Paquette 13
Assists: Kageyama, Jimenez 4
Steals: Paquette 5
Blocks: Godfrey 2
Threes: Mulvey 4
UP NEXT
Swarthmore (17-8) is the fifth seed for the Centennial Conference Tournament and will travel to fourth-seeded Ursinus College for the first round on Tuesday.
