CHESTERTOWN, Md. – The night was cold outside, but inside Cain Athletic Center the Haverford College men's basketball team was hot as it rolled to an 86-80 Centennial Conference victory over host Washington College, shooting 63 percent from the floor to down the Shoremen on their home court.
Haverford (8-13, 4-11 CC) trailed by double-digits in the first half but a 16-2 run at the end of the half allowed the Fords to carry a four-point advantage, 37-33, over Washington (5-17, 4-11) into the break.
The lead grew to 10 in the second half before the Shoremen battled back to within three at the 6:56 mark.
Lucas Colombo took over at that point, draining a three-pointer at one end of the floor then blocking a shot and nabbing the rebound in the defensive end. He pushed the ball up court and dished to Matt Sherman on the left wing where the freshman put down another three pointer to elevate the Haverford lead to nine.
After Anthony Reyes pushed the advantage to 10 from the free throw line, a missed jumper by Washington resulted in a fast break for the Fords with Brett Cohen finishing it off with a layup from the left side to allow the margin to balloon to a dozen with 4:31 to play.
The Shoremen are never an easy out on their home floor and whittled the deficit to three before Haverford finished off the six-point victory down the stretch.
The come back by the Fords began with 5:35 remaining in the opening 20 minutes of action. Trailing 31-21 they struck back beginning with a Cohen jumper.
James Levine converted a pair of free throws and added a three-pointer during the 16-2 run that would give Haverford the lead for good. In that rallying stretch Colombo rolled in a pair of layups, Sherman, who was 3-for-3 from behind the arc, added a trey and Cohen finished it off with a fastbreak layup.
Colombo and Cohen shared team-high honors with 19 points each in the win. Louis Cipriano, 2-for-4 beyond the three-point line, added 16 points and Sherman finished with 13. Gibby Graves quarterbacked the attack for Haverford dealing out eight assists against only one turnover. He also pulled down six rebounds to tie with Cohen for team-high honors on the glass.
Washington was led by James Drury's game-high 22 points. Pat Morgan completed the double-double for the Shoremen in the loss scoring 13 points and coming away with 10 rebounds.
The Fords close out a string of three straight road games on Saturday when they travel to Gettysburg College for another league match-up.