February 24, 2007
Palmer Drains Game-Winning Three in Overtime;
Fords Make First Centennial Championship Appearance With 70-69
OT Win
BALTIMORE, MD – Freshman guard Matthew
Palmer hit the game-winning three-point basket with 0.5 seconds
left on the clock to propel Haverford past Ursinus, 70-69, Saturday
afternoon in a Centennial Conference semifinal tournament game.
Sophomore guard Chaz Thomas scored a career-high 28 points in
the win. Haverford will play Johns Hopkins at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday
in its first ever Centennial championship appearance.
Ursinus took a 29-21 lead into the locker room at the half, and
came out on a 11-5 run to start the second half to make the score
40-26. Haverford battled its way back with a 12-2 run of its own
to pull within 42-38 with 13:08 remaining in regulation. Down
60-56 with 15 seconds left in the second half, Thomas drove the
floor after two made Ursinus free throws and made a layup with
eight seconds to go. Ursinus was promptly fouled after the ball
was thrown inbounds, but missed the front end of a one-and one.
Haverford sophomore David Nowacki grabbed the rebound and found
Thomas down the floor. Thomas nailed a shot with his foot on the
three point line at the buzzer to tie the game at 60, sending
the contest into overtime.
Both teams stayed with each other in the overtime period until
the final seconds. Up 69-67, Ursinus forced a missed Haverford
shot and was able to grab the rebound. Ursinus guard Keith Page
was fouled and missed two free throws with six seconds left in
overtime. Haverford was able to bring the ball up the court, where
Palmer drained the game-winning three-pointer, his second in the
overtime period, from the right wing to make the score 70-69.
Thomas ended up with a team-high 28 points along with six rebounds
and three steals. Senior guard Mike Fratangelo added ten points.
Sophomore guard Greg Rosnick pulled down nine rebounds and had
a team-high four steals. Nowacki had eight points and six rebounds
and senior forward Ray Brown finished the game with nine points
and seven rebounds.
Ursinus guard and Centennial Conference men's basketball Player
of the Year Nick Shattuck led the Bears with a career-high 31
points and a game-high six steals.
Haverford (14-11 overall) shot 41.7% in the game to the Bears
46.4%. The Fords outrebounded the Bears by a 40-36 margin, while
shooting 60.0% (15-of-25) from the charity stripe to the Bears
63.6% (14-of-22) from the line.
Saturday's win was the second one-point win over Ursinus in the
past ten days. The Fords defeated the Bears 75-74 at home back
on February 14.
Tomorrow's game will be the third-ever conference
championship appearance in program history. Haverford made the
Middle Atlantic Conference Southern Division Championship back
in 1975 and 1977. The Fords are 0-2 all-time in conference championship
contests.
