HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's basketball team dropped a Centennial Conference matchup to first-place Franklin & Marshall by an 87-56 score inside of the Gooding '84 Arena on Tuesday evening. The Diplomats came into the contest ranked No. 17 in latest D3Hoops.com Poll.
Freshmen and Kahlil Garnes and Joe Scibelli each recorded 14 points against the nationally-ranked Diplomats' side. Kyle Goldfarb and Walt Plumlee also added seven points each to Haverford's score line. Franklin & Marshall's Brandon Federici, the reigning Centennial Conference Rookie of the Year, led all players with 19 points. He was one of five players to record double figures for his team.
The Fords got behind early and never fully recovered from the early deficit they faced. Showing why they are nationally ranked, the Diplomats scored 12 of the first 14 points to jump out with an early advantage. The Fords regained their composure shortly after and went on an 8-2 run of their own to cut the deficit to four points.
Going to work down low, Josh Fried got to the free throw line and hit both of his attempts from the charity stripe to get the run jumpstarted. After just a single shot possession on the defensive end, Henry Stevens knocked down a three-pointer for his first points of the game. Federici answered that basket with two of his own points, but Plumlee promptly came back to knock down his first three-pointer of the night and make the score 14-10 with 12:19 to play in the opening half.
However, just when it looked like Haverford was finding its offensive grove against the Diplomats, Franklin & Marshall ran off 13 points and locked down Haverford on the defensive end. The visitors eventually carried a 44-22 edge into the locker room after one half of play.
Although the Fords scored 12 more points in the second half than they did in the opening 20 minutes, it still was not enough to keep up with the Franklin & Marshall offense that shot over 58 percent for the contest. That percentage included an 8-of-14 mark from beyond the arc, while the Diplomats were also 9-of-13 at the free throw line.
Haverford finished the contest with its fifth-best shooting percentage of the season as the Fords made 43 percent of the shots they attempted, including 6-of-14 from three-point range. Haverford also finished the night with 18 points at the free throw line, but was undone by 29 turnovers for the night.
The busy week, which features three Centennial Conference games in a span of five days, continues on the road Thursday when the team travels to McDaniel for an 8 p.m. tip off. That game will be played as a doubleheader with the women who will start at 6 p.m.