ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The Haverford College men's basketball team was denied a Centennial Conference road victory in the final minutes at Muhlenberg on Wednesday evening. The Fords had looks to both tie and take the lead in the final minute of play before coming up on the wrong end of a 69-62 score line.
A three-headed monster of underclassmen led the way for the Fords in the scoring column. Freshman Kahlil Garnes recorded his fifth 20-plus point outing of the year with a game-high 21 points. Garnes now has three such games in the Fords' last four contests. Sophomore Walt Plumlee finished with 15 points off the bench, while freshman Joe Scibelli just missed a double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds. Fellow freshman Sam Stogdon also came away with eight points on the evening. Muhlenberg's John Hunter led a trio of Mules who finished in double figures with 15 points.
Thursday's conference battle was a back-and-forth bout throughout the evening. The teams found themselves deadlocked on the scoreboard eight times, while the lead swapped sides on 16 difference occasions. Nine of those lead changes came in the first 20 minutes of game action.
Neither side was able to create much separation throughout the contest. In fact, Muhlenberg's seven-point advantage at the final buzzer was the only time either side was up by more than two possessions. The Mules secured their largest lead of the first half by scoring 10 of the game's first 14 points. Haverford quickly erased the early advantage with an 8-0 run that was capped by back-to-back three-pointers from Garnes and Henry Stevens.
Haverford's largest lead in the opening half came after Plumlee connected on a pair of jump shots during successive possessions to put his side up 18-14. Haverford matched that four-point advantage with another basket from Plumlee at the 6:58 mark. However, Muhlenberg came back with a three-pointer and the final 6:49 of the first half saw just one lead of more than a single possession. After 20 minutes of basketball, the teams were knotted at 26-all.
The Fords' largest lead of the contest came following a 9-0 run that spanned less than three minutes of game action. During that stretch it was the Fords' freshmen that powered the team out of a four-point deficit as the visitors got six points from Scibelli and one of Garnes' four three-pointers on the evening. Haverford matched its five-point advantage on three other occasions throughout the remainder of regulation. The final time Haverford held a five-point lead was after a layup from Stogdon put the visitors up 49-44 with exactly 12 minutes to play.
Muhlenberg continued to answer the Fords' attempts to pull away. A three-pointer from Alex Stavitski on the next Mules' next offensive set brought the game back within a single possession. The lead would only grow to more than three points for either team on one occasion during the next 11-plus minutes.
Haverford's final lead of the evening came when Plumlee hit from beyond the arc to set the score at 56-54. The Fords also found themselves tied on three separate occasions in the final 7:29 of game action. The final deadlock came with the teams tied at 62 and 4:09 showing on the clock. Both defenses were rock solid in that remaining time. The only offense down the stretch came with seven made free throws from the Mules in the final 1:10 of regulation as they escaped with the 69-62 victory.
Men's basketball will return home this Saturday for a scheduled 3 p.m. start against McDaniel. Before the tip of the final home Saturday in the regular season, the Fords will honor the three members of their graduating class: Justin Winkler, Anthony Reyes, and Stevens. The women's game against McDaniel is also a celebration of Senior Day and will get underway at 1 p.m.