HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's basketball team will enter the 2018-19 season with one of its most experienced rosters in recent memory with more upperclassmen than underclassmen for the first time since the 2013-14 campaign. The 11 returners, which include three seniors and six juniors, have combined for 484 games played, 256 starts, and 3,520 points over their careers and will look to lead the team to greater heights as the team returns each of its top eight scorers from a year ago.
The senior class features a pair of potential 1,000 point scorers in Joe Scibelli and Kahlil Garnes. Garnes brings 908 career points into his senior campaign after averaging a career-high 13.0 points per game. He was the only player to start all 25 games last year, earning Centennial Conference Player of the Week honors. He enters the season ranked 10th in school history in three-pointers made (102) and has scored 20 or more points in a game on 11 occasions. Scibelli is averaging 13.9 points per game during his career as the former Centennial Conference Rookie of the Year brings 861 career points into his final season. He already has 18 career double-doubles and is ranked seventh in school history with 7.9 rebounds per game. Kyle Goldfarb enters his senior season with 51 career starts during his 66 games played. Goldfarb led the Fords in assists last season and has gone for 10 or more points 13 different times in his career.
Junior Jonathan Lang is right around the pace needed for 1,000 career points as he averaged 12.6 points a season ago and made a name for himself on the defensive end with a team-leading 58 steals. His nine steals against Penn State Harrisburg was the third-best single game in school history. He also led Haverford with 48 three-pointers last season as he started 20 games. Classmates Jack Cork and Grayson Roth have also seen consistent time in the starting lineup during the past two seasons. Cork led the team in field goal percentage (62.3%) last season and has blocked 25 shots during his 45 career appearances. Roth has started 19 games in his career and his hit 32 three-pointers to go along with 39 assists and 2.9 rebounds per contest in his first two years.
Also in the six-member junior class, Joe Hartman, Joe Wujciak, and Michael Wiper have also been members of the starting five at points in their careers. Hartman appeared in all 25 games as a sophomore and was third on the team in three-pointers made (33) and steals (21). He is shooting over 33 percent from distance in his career and has four career 10 point outings. Wujciak appeared in every game last winter, averaging 13 minutes per game. He did a little bit of everything for the Fords with just under two points per game, 42 rebounds, 40 assists, and 13 steals. Wiper played in the team's final 22 games last year, averaging just under four points per game off the bench. He really hit his stride in mid-January with back-to-back 10-plus point outings against Franklin & Marshall and Ursinus before earning the starting nod at Dickinson.
Jesse Turkson saw the most experience of his class during his rookie campaign. Now a sophomore, Turkson started 10 games as a first year and led the team with eight rebounds per game. He shot over 53% from the floor and averaged 9.5 points per game. Classmate Josh Radin got into 10 games last winter, hitting his first career three-pointer against Franklin & Marshall. Sophomore transfer Drew Connolly joins the Fords after he helped lead his Wilton High School team to the state semifinals in high school.
Haverford's incoming first year class definitely brings much-needed height to the squad as each of the four players are six feet, four inches or taller. Local product Pietro Berghella comes to Haverford from Germantown Friends School where he was the team's MVP. Honorable mention all-state player Grant Primer comes to the Fords from Deerfield, Illinois. Stephen Flanders is an all-conference player out of New Jersey, while Josh Love adds depth to the guard position from Mill Valley, California.
Men's basketball will get its season underway at Rutgers-Camden on Saturday, November 10. In addition to hosting each of the other nine Centennial Conference schools throughout the year, the Fords welcome Penn State Brandywine (Nov. 14) and Rosemont (Nov. 17) to Gooding Arena during the fall semester. The team's non-conference slate also includes a trip to the Lycoming Tournament during the first weekend in January.
Head coach Patrick Doherty will be entering his second season with the Fords. He made a quick impact on Haverford during his first season, leading the Fords to their most victories since the 2013-14 season. During that 2017-18 campaign, the Fords set the school record for three-pointers made and had the program's highest scoring average since the 2004-05 season.