HAVERFORD, Pa. – Fueled by a career-high 24 points from Gibby Graves, the Haverford College men's basketball team took down Moravian on its home court Saturday afternoon, 85-80. It was a game that featured 14 lead changes, but saw the Fords (3-5) hold the upper hand for the majority of the game, sending the Greyhounds (1-8) home with a road loss.
Graves' 24 points headlined his performance in which he filled up the stat sheet with nine rebounds, three assists and two steals. However, Graves was far from doing it alone as Lucas Colombo added 15 points to the winning effort to go along with eight rebounds. Walt Plumlee added a season-high 13 points, while Anthony Reyes also added 10 points off the bench. The Greyhounds also put four players in double figures with Izel Dickerson's 26 points leading all scorers.
Haverford appeared poised to set the tone early in the game as Graves converted a pair of and-one chances on back-to-back possessions just over six minutes into the contest, giving his squad a 15-7 lead. However, that eight-point lead would be the largest lead in the opening half. The Fords never trailed until Moravian hit a layup with 9:24 left in the half, taking a one-point lead.
Despite holding the lead for over 12 minutes in the opening half, it was the Greyhounds that took the lead into the halftime on the heels of a 9-0 run in the final minutes. Moravian would go up by six points, 40-34, with 1:42 left in the half for its largest lead of the game. However, the Fords closed the half on a 5-0 spurt that included a 3-pointer from Plumlee and two more points from Graves.
The Fords continued that streak with the first two points of the second half coming from Graves before the lead switched hands 11 times in the opening seven minutes of the second half. Haverford took the lead for good when Graves found Justin Winkler for a jumper that put the home team up 56-55 with exactly 13 minutes to play.
After trading baskets on each team's ensuing possession, Haverford went on a 7-0 run to push its lead back to eight points, 65-57, midway through the second half. Moravian cut the Fords' lead down to just two points with baskets on three straight trips down the court. Nonetheless, with 4:12 left in the game Haverford had run its lead all the way up to a game-high nine-point advantage, 76-67.
The visiting Greyhounds would again creep back in the game, getting within three points, but Winkler came up with two more points on a jumper. That margin forced Moravian to begin to foul and the Fords would go 5-of-6 from the line in the final minute to seal the victory.
The free throw line proved to be huge for Haverford as the Fords were 18-of-25 on the day, compared just 6-of-20 at the charity stripe from the visitors. Haverford also held its own on the glass Saturday with a 32-31 edge in rebounding for the contest.
Despite a relatively close final score, Haverford led for 28 minutes and 41 seconds, over 15 minutes of which came during the second half of play. Even with seven separate leads, the Greyhounds led for just a total of 6:52 in playing time – nearly four minutes of which came at the end of the first half.
Men's basketball will now break from competition as the College begins final exams. When the Fords return to the court, it will be in Daytona Beach, Florida for the Land of Magic Classic. In Florida, the Fords will battle Oswego State (Dec. 28) and Rensselaer (Dec. 29).