HAVERFORD, Pa. – After honoring the retirement of former head coach Mike Mucci and welcoming back its alumni, the current Haverford College men's basketball team took center stage for its season finale on Saturday afternoon. Prior to the contest, the team recognized graduating seniors Jeremy Evans and Josh Fried for their contributions to the program over the previous four seasons.
Johns Hopkins came away with a 70-52 victory and it was a large run early that loomed on the scoreboard all afternoon. The No. 22 Blue Jays scored the first 17 points of Saturday's contest. Despite their best efforts, the Fords could never completely erase that deficit.
After that early run from the visitors, Haverford did score 11 of the next 16 points to trim the deficit all the way down to an 11 point game, making it 22-11 with 9:40 to play in the quarter. Johns Hopkins pushed its advantage back to 18 points just minutes later but the Fords would not go away quietly and scored 15 of the next 18 points to cut the lead to six, 32-26, just before the half. Johns Hopkins eventually carried a 34-26 lead into the locker rooms. Four different Haverford players scored during that run late in the half to get back within striking distance.
A jumper from Kahlil Garnes just over a minute into the second half set the score at 36-28. However, that would be the final time the Fords were able to stay within a single digit deficit for the rest of the afternoon. Haverford trailed by 11 with just 6:38 to play after a pair of free throws from Joe Scibelli, but could not come any closer in the closing minutes of the year.
Scibelli capped the year with his sixth double-double of the season to give him a total of 18 for his career with one season to play. Jesse Turkson added 12 points and six rebounds to close his rookie season, while junior Kahlil Garnes scored 11 points. Haverford finished a very impressive 13-of-15 at the free throw line, highlighted by Scibelli's perfect day in his six trips to the charity stripe.