Win over Swarthmore propels Fords into conference playoffs

HAVERFORD, Pa. – In a must-have game for the Haverford men's basketball team, the Fords took care of business in front of a crowd of nearly 800 fans by defeating visiting Swarthmore 44-36 on Saturday afternoon in the regular season finale.

The Centennial conference victory by Haverford (12-12, 9-9) over the Garnet (3-21, 2-16) clinched the fifth and final playoff spot for the postseason conference tournament set to begin on Wednesday night with the Fords making a trip to Allentown, Pa., where they will square off against fourth place Muhlenberg.

The opening half of Saturday's game was played in three separate spurts as first the Fords jumped ahead with an 8-0 run off the opening tip followed by an 11-3 run by the Garnet to knot the score at 11-11, and then culminated by a 7-0 Haverford run to close out the half to send the two teams into the locker rooms with the Fords up by an 18-11 score.

A combined 16 turnovers and 33 percent shooting from the field helped keep the score well below both teams' usual offensive output.

The second 20 minutes of action proved to provide more offense and excitement, but not much changed on the scoreboard as Swarthmore never got closer than five points while the Fords stretched the lead to 11 twice early on and eventually 13 with just over a minute to play.

Playing in his final game on the Gooding Arena floor, Haverford senior Greg Rosnick went out with a bang putting up game-highs in points with 17, and rebounds with eight, as well as assists (4) and steals (5).

Sam Permutt, who scored the first six points of the game for Haverford on three layups, also reached double-digits for the Fords adding in 12 points on the day.

Swarthmore was led by Raul Ordonez who had 12 points and seven rebounds. Michael Giannangeli chipped in with 11 points in the loss while Sam Lacy was credited with three blocks.

The Haverford defense was back to their old tricks again, after hitting a pair of speed bumps in their last two outings, holding Swarthmore to 21 points below their season average and providing the offense with 20 Garnet turnovers that the Fords were able to turn into 19 points.

The victory by Haverford was the fifth in a row over Swarthmore and allowed the Fords to sweep the season series from the Garnet. The win also improved the Hood Cup standings between the two schools to a margin of 5-2 in favor of the Scarlet and Black following the conclusion of both the men's and women's basketball series' this year.

Along with Rosnick, five other seniors bid farewell to Haverford fans in a pregame ceremony. Brent Anderson, Ben McDowell, David Nowacki, Matthew Stitt, and Alex Schwada all played in front of a home crowd for one last time, but each of the six now get to extend their season with a second trip in four seasons to the Centennial playoffs.