HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's basketball team avenged its defeat to Bryn Athyn from a season ago with a 72-58 victory inside the Gooding '84 Arena on Wednesday night. The Fords (4-5) came away with 15 steals and forced the Lions (5-3) into 23 total turnovers as they snapped Bryn Athyn's four-game winning streak coming into the contest.
On the offensive end, Kahlil Garnes recorded the 11th 20-plus point game of his career with a game-high 25 points on the night. He made 13 free throws in just 15 attempts for the ninth-highest scoring night at the line in program history. He was joined in double figures by Joe Scibelli (17 points) and Jonathan Lang (12 points). Scibelli also pulled down eight rebounds and came up with five steals on the night.
The Fords held a comfortable lead for the majority of the second half, but were locked in a tight battle during the opening 20 minutes. The lead changed sides five different times in the opening half with three occasions where the two sides were deadlocked on the scoreboard. After being tied for the third and final time all night at 12-all, the Lions opened up their largest lead at 19-14 with 7:30 left in the period.
However, the Fords put a quick halt to that streak with an even more impressive 14-0 run that held the visitors without a point for 5:28 of playing time. Scibelli led four different scorers with six points during that stretch as the Fords took a 28-19 lead with 2:31 remaining in the half. Haverford matched that lead right before the halftime break as Kyle Goldfarb beat the buzzer with a jumper that sent Haverford into the locker room with a 32-23 advantage.
Coming out of the halftime break, Garnes got a pair layups off of Haverford steals to give the Fords the first five points of the half. Converting the first of those attempts into an old fashioned three-point play, Bryn Athyn was forced to call a timeout as it trailed by 14, 37-23, just 1:02 into the second half. The Lions responded with an 8-0 run to trim the deficit down to 37-31 with 15:34 to play in regulation. Nevertheless, Haverford got three pointers from Lang and Joe Hartman on back-to-back possessions and the Fords would see their deficit go under double figures just once during the remaining 14:31 of game action.
The Fords' lead reached as many as 16 points shortly after those back-to-back treys as Haverford continued its hot shooting with points on five straight possessions. Fittingly enough, it was a Scibelli steal that led to a jumper from Garnes which gave Haverford its 50-34 edge with 12:32 to play. Bryn Athyn got the deficit back into single digits just once, trailing 62-53 with 4:53 on the game clock, following a pair of free throws.
Garnes answered those free throw attempts with two of his own as he made eight straight free throws in the final four minutes to help his team secure the non-conference victory. The junior finished his night with 17 of his 25 points coming in the second half.
Haverford outshot Bryn Athyn by a 46.2%-37.9% margin from the field. The Fords also scored 15 points at the free throw line in 19 attempts, while the Lions converted just 11 of their 18 chances at the charity stripe. Five different players had two or more steals for the Fords as they created a 25-18 edge in points off of turnovers. Haverford also got swatted away six Lion shot attempts, with two blocks each coming from Sam Stogdon, Hartman, and Scibelli.
Men's basketball will now close the 2017 portion of its schedule at home this Saturday when the Fords host Eastern in a 1 p.m. tip. That contest will be the Fords' final action before the New Year when they head out on the road for a trip to Penn State Brandywine in early January.